The Olympian Office
by Between.the.Lines888
Summary: Percy is a grad student who just started at Olympian Architecture, a company run by the extremely successful, and engaged, Annabeth. Your favorite characters as regular mortals, no gods getting in the way.
1. The One With The New Job

**Hello and welcome to my story! Here we have all the demi-gods we know and love, but they are just regular mortals. YAY!**

**Here at the beginning of the story we have Percy in his last year of grad school. While Annabeth owns a very successful company, she is also engaged to Luke. What happens when Percy goes to work for Annabeth?**

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><p><span>First Day on the Job<span>

**Percy POV**

I walked into the lobby of the office building. The room was filled with idly chatter, the ding of the elevator, and the clicking of high heels on the marble floor. The entire wall facing the street was made of glass filling the room with light and the sound of morning traffic. The walls were a light green color, and the elevators were gold. To the right of the elevators was a reception desk where a receptionist was sitting lazily typing on the computer.

"Hello. Welcome to Olympian Architecture. How may I help you?" she asked cheerily looking up from her computer as I walked up.

"Hi, I'm here for the job, its my first day," I said.

"Oh, cool, so you're the new paper pusher. I'm Selena, as you can tell I work down here in the lobby," she stood as held out her hand. She was gorgeous; her brown hair was perfectly curled and fell over her shoulders neatly. Her make-up looked flawless and from where her hand was extended designer perfume wafted off her skin. She was wearing a red skirt with a white button up shirt, a black blazer, black tights, and black pumps. I took her hand a shook it. "Now if you will follow me, I will show you where you will be working."

She walked around the desk and I followed her to the elevator. We waited for a moment then the entered the first elevator.

"The company owns all the floors so everything you will need is in this building. The first story is the lobby and the recycling room and other things like that. The second floor is all files, all the blueprints and every record of everything is there. That is where you will be spending a lot of time. The third floor is all the cubicles and intern offices, which is where you will be working. Then there are the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors where we have our models and the marketing team. Then the seventh through the tenth floor is where all our engineers work. Then the eleventh and twelfth floor is the legal team. Then the thirteenth through the nineteenth floor is for all our architects and designers. Then the twentieth floor is where our executives' offices are and where the conference rooms are," Selena explained as we rose up through the floors in the high rise.

The elevator dinged and we walked out into a floor filled with cubicles. But these were not like the usual kind they were made with wood and glass and there was only one person in each one. I followed Selena to an empty desk.

"Here you are. Okay, this is kind of a weird question but this is such a boring job. Why did you take it? Don't get me wrong its fantastic working here, its just so boring."

"I need money for grad school. NYU is not cheep. I'm working on my masters in environmental engineering."

"Impressive. Well everything is all set up on your computer, if you need anything just call me at the front desk" Selena said before turning and walking off.

I sat behind my desk in the cushy rolling chair and turned on the computer. After I got the computer turned on, I opened up my new email and found an email with an official description of my job. I was got so wrapped up in reading the email that I didn't notice someone walking into my cubicle and sit down.

"Well, if it isn't a familiar face?" a girl with fiery red hair said putting her feet up on my desk.

"Rachel? What are you doing here?" I said walking around my desk to give her a hug.

"I work here, I am one of the chief designers," she stated proudly. She was wearing jeans and a white button up shirt.

"Wow, how long had it been?"

"High school, I guess. Before I went to that stupid finishing school."

"So, too long."

"Yea we need to catch up, kid. What about dinner tonight?"

"Sounds great. How about the restaurant in Bryant Park at seven?"

"See you there. But lets get down to business. I came down here to get you, you're needed in a meeting."

I went with Rachel to the top floor where she directed me to the conference room filled with people in suits. We walked in and Rachel took a seat in an empty chair near the front where a few people were talking. I stood in the corner not sure what to do, I was not able to get to this part of the email. I was cowering in the corner confused when a guy built like a football player walked over to me.

"You look lost. I assume you are our new paper pusher. I'm Charles Beckendorf, but most people just call me Beckendorf," he said thrusting his hand in my direction, which I grabbed and he nearly crushed my hand as we shook hands.

"Hi, I'm Percy. And yes I am the new paper pusher," I said shoving my hands into my pockets.

"Well I am pretty sure you are supposed to sit there, at the little desk with the laptop and record the minutes for the meeting. At least that is what the other kid did," he said pointing to a stand-alone table to the side pushed against the glass wall over looking Fifth Avenue.

The rest of the conference room was filled with a large oval table that almost filled the room. Rolling chairs encircled the table where a few were already occupying either looking over official looking papers or chatting quietly with other workers. The wall opposite of the window was also made of glass allowing the executives offices to be seen amongst the small sitting areas and the secretaries' desks. The back wall was painted periwinkle and was mostly covered with the coffee cart and framed blueprints. The floor was spotless white carpet illuminating the room from the sunlight streaming in. The last wall was dominated by a dry erase board gleaming white, and a projector hung from the ceiling casting light onto the board. The ceiling also concealed a screen for the projector.

"Thanks a lot," I told Beckendorf.

We stood there chatting for a minute while people continued to file in. When the last person came in everything else faded away. Remember when I said Selena was gorgeous, she holds nothing to her. Her blond hair was tossed over her shoulder and she was not wearing any makeup. She was wearing a grey dress, black pumps, and a black sweater. She was breathtaking.

"Whoa," was my intelligent reply. Beckendorf looked over his shoulder to see whom I was gaping at and chortled.

"That's Annabeth, the founder and CEO of Olympian Architecture. Don't waist your time, she's engaged," Beckendorf said smirking at my awestruck expression.

"She looks kind of young to be engaged," I said starring at Annabeth who couldn't have been any older than I was.

"She is engaged to her childhood sweetheart, Luke. He does communications stuff for one of the big companies in New York. I went to college with him, we were in the same class, so he is a few years older than she is."

"Oh."

"Well the meeting is about to start; we should take our seats," Beckendorf said before walking off to take his seat near the head of the table. I quietly took the seat behind the laptop glancing over my shoulder to look out over Fifth Avenue.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV<strong>

I walked into the conference room closing the door behind me, when I looked over to Beckendorf talking to the new guy. And I also saw the new guy gawking at me. He was kind of cute, the type of guy I would have gone for in collage. But that was before I was successful and engaged. Now I own my own company and have designed countless buildings.

I called the meeting to order and looked across the table at my executives. Sitting next to me was Thalia, she is my vice president. She basically runs the company. Thalia has a business degree. She has a head for business; I guess it runs in the family. Her father runs a huge, international, multi-billion dollar cooperation. Next was Grover, the head of the green department. I had known them since I was seven; we had all gone to school together. Now we all work together.

Occasionally, through out the meeting, while someone was talking about something dull, like finances, I would glance over at the new guy in the corner against the window typing feverously. I found myself wondering about him. Why did he take a job here? What was his story? How did he end up here? I was so wrapped up in my internal dialogue, that I completely ignored Rachel when she was trying to ask me a question. Thalia kicked me under the table and brought me back to reality. Rachel rolled her eyes, as usual, then continued on another one of her over the top ideas that would never actually be feezable.

After another long meeting, I walked back to my office on the twentieth floor. The entire wall opposite to the door was glass looking west, clinging to the wall were thick curtains hanging from the ceiling. in front of the window a large mahogany desk was cluttered with papers and blueprints. The computer was lined with sticky notes and various memos. The phone blinked with new voicemails. A cushy leather chair sat behind the desk. To the left of the desk was a bookcase filled with official looking binders and pictures of my friends and family. To the right of the door a small sitting area composed of posh leather furniture was gathered. On the wall behind the couch hung the first building my company every contracted framed. On the opposite side of the room was a mirrored table with two bouquets of flowers and various magazines Luke insisted that I always had flowers in my office, so every week he sent me a new bouquet for my table.

I walked to my desk; my secretary had laid out a new client list for me to review and she had even circled which of the clients who wanted a new blueprint. I sat down in the desk chair and started to organize the papers on my desk. Once the majority of the files and other assorted reports had been cleared off my desk I found some picture frames that had been knocked over by the onslaught of work that had been thrust onto my desk.

The first picture was of Luke and me; we were standing in front of the Parthenon in Greece. Luke had taken me there when I had graduated from grad school and entire year ahead of schedule, I might add. It was the one piece of architecture that had inspired me to be an architect. I will forever remember that day. It was freezing but it was completely clear. We had not expected for it to be cold so we had not packed sufficient clothing. In the picture we were trying to look as happy as possible despite only having short sleeves and shorts.

There was also pictures of Thalia, Grover, and me from high school. There was one of us at senior prom; we all had decided to go with each other. Thalia looked uncomfortable in her plain black strapless cocktail dress, while Grover was swimming in his father's powder blue suit circa 1970 with the stupidest grin on his face, I was wearing a floor length silver-grey dress. There was also one of us from graduation, where of course I was the valedictorian and got a special sash. Thalia was making fun of my sash and again Grover had a stupid grin on his face. I love Thalia and Grover.

The last picture was of my dad and me long before my step mom and the twins. We were at his office at the university. He was wearing a brown tweed jacked and a button up shirt, while I was wearing a bomber jacket my dad had gotten from the Air and Space Museum. I was playing with one of his toy planes while sitting on his lap. It was a time where we actually looked happy. But that soon changes when he got married and I was sent away.

I started to go the client list and see what people wanted from Olympian Architecture. Then I sent emails to all the architects and designers to start work on designing and such. Then I grabbed my laptop from my workbag, it had been a gift from my college advisor. He had become ill and had given me the laptop before he had passed away. I turned on the laptop and looked through the various inventions and blueprints that he had loaded onto the laptop. I did not realize how long I had spent on my laptop until I looked up and the clock read six thirty. I looked around the office through my door, everyone had gone home and there was only a faint light of my sectary's computer. As I was looking out the door, my mobile on the desk started to ring. I walked over and picked it up.

"Hello," I said stifling a yawn.

"Hello, Annabeth, my love," a familiar voice said on the other end of the phone.

**So, I really hope you liked it! I promise i will not take me more than two weeks to update. I'm really excited about this new story and hope you are excited about it too!**


	2. The One With The Early Flight

**A/N: Hey! I am so ecstatic, and a little overwhelmed, by the response this story has gotten. In fact I was so pumped about this story that i wrote this entire chapter, all ten pages, on my fall break. Truth be told, it has been sitting on my laptop since August. It has gotten more readers in a long weekend than my other story had gotten in a month. Which means: it's shameless plug time! Although completely different, my other story, Insider Information, is similar in writing style.**

**And now to thank some people! First I would like to thank ASenseofImiganation, Chunk Li, ILikePieMoreThanYouDo, Katherine'TheCameleon'Jackson, Percabeth4711, SeiRelo, and SingleSilver for favouriting my story. I would also like to thank A-Lady, SeiRelo, and ShadowHuntress101 for adding this to your story alerts. And last, but not least, I would like to thank SeiRelo for adding me to your favourite authors. As well as all who reviewed. Terribly sorry if I misspelled your penname.**

**And to wrap up this extremely long Author's Note. All the characters are Mr. Riordan, that lucky you know what. All the main characters should be around 25. Enjoy chapter two!**

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><p><span>The Cubical Chronicles<span>

**Percy POV**

It was now the end of the day and I was starting to get the hang of my new job. I had even made a few friends, like Travis Stoll from the Mail Room and Beckendorf from the meeting. I had figured out where the bathrooms were and everything. Rachel had showed me around the office during our lunch hour.

It was the end of the day and I was doing the last mail run for Travis, who got sick and had to leave early. I was almost finished and found myself on the top floor with the last of the mail. The lobby of the executives' office was dark letting only in the light from the setting sun. It was about six thirty and I was meeting Rachel in a half an hour.

I had only one delivery left, to the CEO, Ms. Chase. I pushed the mail cart towards her office to find that hers was the only one lit. As I got closer, I saw her sitting behind the desk talking on the phone looking rather exasperated. When I got to the door of the office I could hear the conversation, and I could not resist but listen.

"Yes, love, I promise I'm not mad. See you next week, I love you, bye," I heard her say solemnly. Then she hung up on the phone and ran her hands through her gorgeous blond hair. I walked to the door and knocked. She looked up and waved me in.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt, but, I have some mail for you," I said holding a handful of letters walking into her office.

"What happened to Travis?" she asked looking at me suspiciously.

"He went home sick," I said sheepishly. It was true; when he had left he was all pale and sickly.

"Rookie mistake. Travis and his brother, Conner, are masters of deceit. You were tricked," she said laughing at me.

"Oh," I said feeling stupid.

"Don't feel bad, the first time I met then, they made me believe that they had an exotic disease that required a very expensive treatment. Luckily, my fiancé talked me out of giving them the money. He's their cousin and know all the their tricks," she explained laughing at herself now.

"Well, here is your mail," I said handing her the mail and pushing the cart out of the office. I looked over my shoulder as I was walking away from her door. She had closed her computer and started to pack up.

I finished the mail run and returned the cart to the mailroom; I grabbed my briefcase and waited for a taxi outside of the building. It was mid-September and the weather was starting to get cool, and light breeze blew down the street. I only waited for a taxi for a few minutes and soon I was headed down to Bryant Park.

The taxi driver dropped me in front of Dionysus, a pizza place where we used to hang out in high school. Before it was a pizza place, it was a fancy Greek restaurant, but when the owner passed away, his son, Patten, took over and converted it to a gourmet pizza place. The inside was styled with ionic pillars made of plaster and made to look like marble. There were statues of the gods and murals of mythology all along the walls. The fountain was filling the room with ambiance. I looked around and realized that this was still the cool place to hang out, there were at least a dozen high school couples sharing pizza.

"Percy, so glad you made it," Rachel called from the stairs, "check it out, Patten added a terrace bar upstairs, come on, I got us a table."

I followed her up the stairs to the bar. There were tables set up inside and outside; the terrace looked over Bryant Park. There were heat lamps and fire pits keeping it warm. I followed Rachel over to a table near to the street. We sat down and I looked over the menu. A waitress soon came over and took our drink orders, I ordered a beer and Rachel got a Cosmopolitan. We decided to share our favorite pizza from when we were in high school, a pizza with chicken, sun dried tomatoes, and feta cheese.

"So, I guess the last time I saw you was high school," she said taking a sip of her cosmo.

"Yeah. So what have you been up to?" I asked trying to calculate how long it had been since I had seen her.

"Nothing much, you know, I guess I went to collage. Columbia for art, but then I decided I should do structural design. Then I got a degree and then I went to work for Annabeth when the company was just starting up. Been driving her up the wall ever since," she said like it was nothing. "But what about you?"

"Well, I graduated and took a gap year. I spent it broke and jobless in the Grecian islands, traveling with only a few clothes. Then it was off to MIT, and don't look at me like that," I told Rachel who was giving me a disbelieving look, "Paul really helped me and I started to get good grades, and being the captain of the water polo team helped. Then I tried to get a job in the city but couldn't. Then my parents convinced me to go back to school. So here I am now; grad school at NYU."

"Sounds like you have kept yourself busy," Rachel said smiling at me. It reminded why I had a crush on her for so long, she was so confident and carefree.

"You haven't been doing too bad yourself," I said returning an awkward smile. We ate our pizza and reminisced about high school. Before I knew it, it was midnight and we each had a few drinks.

"Ugh, look at the time, we have work tomorrow. I think its time to head home," Rachel said looking at her gold watch.

"Come on, I'll walk you home," I said grabbing the check.

I paid while Rachel got a cab. I opened the door for her once I joined her outside the restaurant. We got into the cab and Rachel told the driver her apartment address in the village. We rode most of the way in silence. It was not until we turned off Broadway that Rachel said something.

"I had a lot of fun Percy. I remember why I always liked you," she said punching me playfully on the shoulder.

"Right back at you," I said feeling really awkward.

"Still as clueless as ever, though," she said laughing at me. I had no idea what she was talking about thus sitting there with a stupid look on my face. "Percy, don't you remember that summer when we were at the beach with your parents?"

"No."

"Your father lent us his car, it was like a day before I was going on vacation."

"Still nothing."

"Just kiss me damn it!" she said grabbing the collar of my shirt and pulling me in for a kiss. I sat there stunned as Rachel got out of the taxi. "See you tomorrow, Percy."

She walked into her high-rise apartment building and waved to me as I pulled away in the taxi. I readjusted my suit and tie as the taxi driver was laughing at me. I gave him my address. He dropped me off and I paid the fare. I lived in a tiny studio apartment in Midtown Manhattan. I lived in a brick building two blocks away from Rockefeller Center. My apartment was on the thirty-fourth floor. I walked into the lobby where an elevator was opening for a couple who lived a few doors down from me. They held the door for me and we rode to our floor.

I walked to my apartment fishing out my keas. Once I got to my door I unlocked it and walked in. To the right I had a tiny kitchen with chestnut cabinets and stone countertops. All the appliances were all stainless steel. To the left of the door there was a desk and a whirlwind of papers and engineering textbooks strewn across the floor. Beyond the desk, shoved against the wall, was a platform bed that was perpetually unmade. Opposite my bed was a worn leather couch my parents had given me when they got a new one; it too was covered with homework and lab notes. Next to the couch on a side table I had a fish tank with my fish Bessie. Bessie was a black and white goldfish; her spots made her looks like a cow so I named her Bessie. Through a door next to the couch I had a tiny bathroom. I also had a balcony as part of the fire escape and two large windows facing north.

Once I got inside, I threw my stuff down by my desk and changed out of my suit into my pajamas, a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. Then I went to sleep dreaming about the happenings of my first day at work.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV<strong>

"Luke!" I exclaimed into the phone.

"Annabeth, sweetheart, I have some bad news," I heard his voice through the phone, it sounded distant and muffled.

"Let me guess, work needs you… where ever you are," I said trying to conceal my exasperation.

"Yes. I am so sorry, darling. You know, its jut work," he said with contriteness.

"Its, fine. Where are you?" I asked with an attempt as sounding happy.

"I'm in Istanbul. The company flew me out here and put me up in the Four Seasons," he said only slightly boasting.

"When are coming home?" I asked wistfully.

"Should be home next week, promise," he said trying to sound reassuring.

"Well, okay. Just don't forget that we have that event for_ your _work; I have already sent for your tux to the dry cleaners."

"I swear, I will be home soon."

"That's what you said the last time."

"I told you, I want to come home-" he started to say but I cut him off.

"I know, I've heard it before," I said irritated.

"Please, darling, don't be angry."

"I'm not, just wish you were here."

"Promise?"

"Yes, love, I promise I'm not mad. See you next week, I love you, bye," I said trying to smile.

"I love you too!" he said on the other end of the phone before hanging up. Once he had hung up, I ran through my hair exasperated. I looked up when I saw the new guy from the meeting this morning. He was pushing Travis' mail cart. When he approached my door I waved him in.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt, but, I have some mail for you," he said holding up a handful of letters.

"What happened to Travis?" I asked him knowing Travis' tricks and also knowing how he has a tendency to trick my new employees.

"He went home sick," he replied. I knew this trick, he made himself all pale and feverish looking then he goes home sick and gives all his responsibilities to the new guy.

"Rookie mistake. Travis and his brother, Conner, are masters of deceit. You were tricked," I said laughing at his innocence.

"Oh," he said looking dejected, I felt bad. But he was quite cute when he had that confused look on his face.

"Don't feel bad, they made me believe that they had an exotic disease that required a very expensive treatment. Luckily, my fiancé talked me out of giving them the money. He's their cousin and know all the their tricks," I said thinking about the first time I had met Travis and Conner.

Luke had brought me to meet his family during the holidays and I not only met his immediate family but also his insane cousins. Travis and Conner had seen my designer bag and honed in on the fact that I had money. They created a very realistic sounding exotic disease and pleaded for some funds to pay for an operation. If it hade not been for Luke, I would have written them a check for an "operation".

"Well, here is your mail," he said handing me a few envelopes that looked like various bills. Then he pushed the cart out of my office towards the elevator. After he left, I gathered my things and put them in my briefcase. I shut down my computer and grabbed my briefcase and my purse, flipping off he lights in my office as I walked out.

I took the elevator down to the lobby and hailed a cab. I gave the driver my address and pulled out my phone to check my email. Luke had emailed me a picture of the sea taken from the balcony in his hotel room. The caption underneath read '_wish you were here_", I replied just as the cab pulled up to my apartment building. Luke and I shared a penthouse in the Upper East Side.

Our building was a grey-stone building in the middle of a block. Outside, there was a revolving door flanked by two single doors. On the inside of the two single doors was a man dressed in a red and gold coat with a matching hat. I got out of the cab and paid my fare, as I walked towards the building, the doorman on the left opened the door for me. The lobby looked just like a hotel with a large mahogany desk where the building manager sat. There was a coffee table with a pitcher cucumber water and a bowl of candy sat out. Behind the coffee table, a sitting area of taupe colored leather seats gathered around a fireplace. Opposite the door was a set of polished brass doors. I walked towards the elevators waving at Sharon, the building manager. I got into the elevator and pushed the fifty-second button and went rode up the elevator to my apartment.

I unlocked the door to 52D and walked in. I threw my purse and briefcase on the floor, not bothering to turn on the lights. I kicked off my heels and walked into my bedroom. I turned on the lights and threw my sweater on the bed.

The walls were covered with a golden filigree patterned wallpaper. Against the left wall the king bed was pushed against the wall. From the four corners stemmed iron rods that made a canopy over the bed from witch royal blue silk drapes. The canopy's drapes matched the sheets and a few of the throw pillows. The comforter was a bronzy golden color and matched the other throw pillows. A gold and royal blue Persian rug covered the marble floor under the bed. A large window made up the far wall with a view of the New York skyline. The curtains matched the bed with royal blue and gold curtains. Facing the bed was a mahogany chest of drawers covered with jewelry and various remotes. On the wall above the dresser a flat screen television was mounted. To the left of the chest of drawers was a door leading to the bathroom. To the left of the bed was the door to my massive walk-in closet.

I walked into the bathroom and took a shower. After I showered I put on my pajamas and put a DVD in after grabbing a slice of cold pizza from the kitchen. I lay in bed watching the first Lord of the Rings movie and eating my dinner of cold pizza. When the first movie was over, I looked over at the clock, which read ten. I turned on the television and fell asleep watching the ten o'clock news.

About one in the morning, I was rudely awoken by my phone buzzing under my pillow. I grabbed around for my phone and sleepily answered it.

"Hello?" I said still mostly asleep.

"Annabeth!" said an excited voice on the other end.

"Luke?" I asked sitting up and stifling a yawn.

"Yes, love. Guess what!" he said talking really fast.

"Your forgot that there is a time difference and didn't realize it's one in the morning here."

"No. I'm at the airport. Honey, I'm coming home."

"Really? When will you get here?"

"About ten, I have a layover in Paris."

"Fantastic! I shall meet you at the airport."

"Okay, love. See you when I get home. But until then get some sleep."

"That's what I was trying to do before someone called me."

"Well, I shall let you get back to it."

"Okay, goodnight,"

"Goodnight, love. See you tomorrow," he said softly before handing up the phone.

I hung up and put the phone on the nightstand then I turned off the television and went back to sleep dreaming peacefully.

**A/N: Well, there is chapter two. Hope you liked it. Just to let you know, in this story Rachel and Percy casually dated in high school. But Percybeth lovers do not despair, there is Percybeth in store (PS I'm a Percybeth lover too). Do not forget to hop on over to my other story, it will be updated by next week.**


	3. The One With The Bacterium Named Karl

**A/N: Hello Everybody! It's been a while, and for that i am terribly sorry. I did not realize it has been practically a month; but here is chapter three. I know I promise this every time, but I swear that the next chapter will be us sooner.**

**Now the thanks! First off, thank you to ShadowsClaw for favoriting this story. As well as booklover484 for adding this to story alter. More thanks for everyone who has reviewed. And last but not least, thank you to everyone who is reading. If it was not for all the above I would not be writing.**

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><p><span>Office Olympians<span>

**Percy POV**

I was awoken by the sun streaming in through the window and hitting me in the face. I sat up in my bed yawning; the clock on the nightstand read nine in the morning. I thanked the gods that I had woken up in time to get to my lab at ten, which I frequently missed. I threw off the covers and recoiled against the cold air that filled my apartment. I picked up my phone off the nightstand to check my messages. My mom had called me at a ridiculously early hour asking me to bring her a carton of eggs and a gallon of milk.

After checking my messages, I got out of bed and took a shower. Since I would have no time to come home before going back to work, I had to wear my work clothes to school today. I put on a blue oxford and kaki pants over I wore a dark grey sweater rolling up the sleeves on my sweater and shirt. I threw a tie into my satchel and put on my one pair of nice shoes. I hastily collected my lab notes and shoved them into the satchel with my tie.

After grabbing a half-eaten granola bar I had left on the counter, I ran down the stairs. I still had half an hour to get downtown. I ran to the nearest subway station and grabbed the next train downtown. I sat in the car listening to the clank of the car on the rails while I quietly looked on with the businessman reading this morning's newspaper. At my stop, I exited the car and ran up the stairs, momentarily blinded by the sudden burst of sun. I only had two more blocks to go to get to school and I had ten minutes. I walked quickly down the street.

The old brick building stood above the street shading the pedestrians stretching the length of the block. There were windows at regular intervals with purple banners with gold letters were strung in between them. There was an entrance in the middle of the block where students were exiting carrying books and binders. I pushed through the crowd of undergraduates and walked down the hallway to the laboratory stocked with beakers and test tubes and other science stuff. Other students had already arrived and had begun working on their experiments.

I took my usual seat in the middle of the class next to the window. I put my bag and sweater under my desk and grabbed a lab coat and goggles. Then returning to my table where I had taken out my lab notes, I started examining a microbial bacterium.

"Dude, you look stupid," said the person who had just plopped his stuff on the other half of the lab table.

I looked up from my work to see my lab partner, Nico. His dark hair was hanging in his eyes and his beat up bomber jacket hung off his shoulders. Nico stood there rummaging through his backpack trying to find his lab notes. Nico was a few years younger than me, and currently an undergraduate senior. Nico was a biology major with a concentration in forensics stocking up on credits as an undergrad. Smart kid.

"You're one to be talking," I said jotting down remarks in my notebook.

"So, how's Karl doing?" he said handling the beaker with dexterity.

"You named the bacterium? And you named it Karl?" I said shooting him a confused look.

"Why not?" he said before taking off his jacket. He stashed it under the table along with his backpack. He grabbed a lab the same starchy white lab coat and goggles I had and we started working on the lab, fighting over who got control of the microscope.

The lab passed quickly, before I knew it the clock struck one and people packed up and started to drift out of the laboratory. Nico and I finished the lab and started packing up. I put my lab notebook in my bag and pulled out the tie crumpled from the bottom of my bag. I sipped it over my neck and adjusted my collar.

"See you later, man. Have to make it to work," I told Nico, who was shoving papers into his backpack.

"A job? Where?" he asked looking up from his backpack with incredulity.

"An architecture firm, uh, Olympian Architecture," I said adjusting my cuffs.

"Nice," he said lightly punching me on the shoulder.

"Thanks. See you later," I said shouldering my book bag and running out the door.

I left the building and walked out into the clear cool Manhattan afternoon. Traffic was heavy because of the lunch rush. I hailed a cab and told the driver the address. As the driver pulled in traffic I took out my phone to check my messages. My mom had called me, again, and told me to pick up some tomatoes and a bottle of wine. I tore off a corner from one on my notebooks and wrote down the shopping list. When the driver pulled up to the building, I paid and got out of the taxi.

I walked into the lobby and headed towards the elevator. Selena waved to me as I passed her desk. I took the elevator up to my floor and walked to my cubical. As soon as I got to my desk, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said picking up the phone and turning on my computer simultaneously.

"Hello, Mr. Jackson, this is Grover Underwood. I need you to come up to my office. It is on the top floor and to the right," said a voice on the other end of the phone.

"Okay, I will be right up," I said hanging up and walking towards the elevator.

I took the elevator up to the top floor and turned right. There was a large office that looked similar to Annabeth's office. I approached the door and knocked on it. Mr. Underwood looked up from his work and waved me in. The inside of the office was filled with light. The widow on the back wall looked into the neighboring building. In front of the window was a light green canvas couch and matching armchairs. The right side of the room was covered with a bookcase filled with books and pictures. To the left of the door was a large desk covered with papers and a computer. In front of the desk stood two chairs that matched those in the sitting area. Sitting behind the desk was a guy about my age with a scraggly goatee and a mess of curly brown hair. He wore a brown suit with a green tie. I walked up to his desk as he stood and extended his hand, which I took and we shook hands.

"Hello, Mr. Jackson. Thanks for getting up here so quickly," he said gesturing to one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Please, call me Percy. Nice to meet you Mr. Underwood," I said taking the seat nearest to the door.

"Likewise, call me Grover. Okay, with introductions out of the way, I need you to run down to the file room and pull a few things for me. I wrote it all down and where to find it on this," he said handing me a lime green sticky note.

"Yes, sir. I will be back in a few," I said taking the paper from Grover and exiting the office.

I was walking back to the elevator, yet again, when I ran into someone walking the opposite direction. They stumbled back and nearly fell backwards. I saw the person was Rachel wearing a rather uncomfortable looking pair of heels.

"Damn shoes," she muttered to herself. She looked up and saw me. "Oh, hi Percy! I didn't know you were going to be at work today."

"Yep. Working Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Got to pay the bills," I informed her.

"So, what do you say we try a real date? Tomorrow, say around eight?" she said taking a step closer and speaking in a muted voice.

"See you then," I said stepping away awkwardly, "but now I have work to do."

"Bye, Percy," she said as I walked towards the elevator.

I took the elevator down nineteen floors; when the doors opened I was greeted by a brightly lit room. There were rows and rows of metal filing cabinets illuminated by florescent bulbs hanging lifelessly over the floor. The cement grey walls and lack of windows and the faint buzz of the bulbs made the filing room feel like a dungeon. I walked in trying to follow the intimidating combination of numbers and letters marking what is in each row. I followed Grover's instructions trying to decipher the codes on the cabinets, the dyslexia did not help. After wandering around for at least ten minuets through the metal corridors, I finally found my way through the maze. I got the files and blueprints from the endless network of cabinets.

I took the files back to Grover who was sitting behind the desk shuffling through the papers on his desk. I placed the blueprints on his desk and stepped back as he flipped through the papers.

"Thanks, Percy, I am so glad Annabeth established this system. I hate going down to the file room, it feels like being under ground. And I hate being under ground," Grover said moving the files to the small round coffee table next to the light green armchair.

"No problem," I said, "do you need me to do anything else?"

"Not right now, but later I have a meeting, at three to be exact, and I will need someone to run and get me things," he said looking at his watch.

"Sure, see you in half-an-hour then."

I went back down to my office and started to read through the information about the file room and the model room again. I did mindless work like this for the next thirty minutes. Then I returned to Grover's office to find him working with a client. For the next two hours, I ran from Grover's office to the file room or to the model room. Each time I would cart back an arm full of blueprints, floor samples, or paint swatches. By the end of the day, I must have made twenty trips up and down the elevator.

After Grover was done with his client, we finished the work and parted ways. I went down to my office and grabbed all my stuff. I took the elevator down for the last time today; I walked outside and hailed a taxi. Once I got in the taxi, I called my mother.

"Hello?" I heard the familiar voice of my mother on the other end of the phone.

"Hi mom," I replied, "I'm on my way to the store right now to pick up the things you need."

"Okay, well while you are there, pick up some angel hair pasta."

"So, eggs, a gallon of milk, tomatoes, a bottle of wine, and pasta. Does that sound right?" I asked reading off the lift I found crumpled in the bottom of my satchel.

"Yes, Percy, see you soon. Bye," she said before hanging up.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV<strong>

I woke up to the radio on my nightstand blaring a mindless pop songs. I pulled the pillow over my head and started swatting at the alarm clock. After a few moments of fishing for the snooze button, I threw off the pillow and reluctantly pushed off the covers. I walked into the bathroom and commenced the morning ritual. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I wandered into the walk-in closet bigger than some apartments in the city. There was a wall through the middle; to the right was Luke's clothes, and to the left hung my clothes. There were two bars to hang clothes as well as shelves and a pace for shoes.

I wandered amongst my clothes, and there were, surprisingly, a lot of them. Finally, I pulled a pair of black dress pants, a sapphire silk scoop neck blouse, and a charcoal, three-quarter-length blazer. I threw on my clothes and ran the flat iron through my hair. To add the finishing touches, I put on my watch with a black leather band, a pair of silver owl earrings, and my engagement ring. Luke knew exactly what kind of ring I would love, a platinum band with a princess cut diamond with emerald cut green diamonds on either side. It was not as simple as I had expected, but it was visually stunning and very structural, these are the tings I tend to pick up being an architect.

After I was finished getting ready, I walked to into the living room-kitchen area. On the opposite side of the room, the kitchen was nestled into a niche in the wall. Cherry wood cabinets, with chrome details, lined the wall, broken by a stainless steel oven with a hood hanging above it. On the wall, cabinets with frosted glass hung above the counter. The counter was dark granite that covered the cabinets as well as the island. The island stood centered with the stove. Above the island hung three lights made from old wine bottles. The walls of the kitchen were painted a dark taupe and the floors made of white tile.

Across the room, there was a cluster of couches arranged around a river stone fireplace. The couch wrapped around at a 90-degree angle and was covered in a smoky grey canvas, along with matching armchairs. There were various black and white throw pillows tossed in various places. In the center of the seating arrangement, there was a round glass coffee table. On the wall encircling the fireplace, a bookcase filled the wall with volumes of books and dozens of photographs. The furniture sat upon oak wood floors.

The far end of the room was an elevated platform of wood painted white. The wall the faced the street expanded making the raised area a large ellipse. The outside wall consisted mostly of window. Pushed to the side were grey curtains gathering on the floor. In the center of the stage, a dining table painted white with a glass surface. Around the table, matching chairs with cushions the same color as the curtains. In the center of the table a large bouquet of tuberoses decorated the room. Hanging above the table, was a wrought iron fixture with frosted glass. There were other doors across the room that led to various other chambers.

I grabbed my keas to the shiny black Jaguar. We kept it parked in the underground parking garage under out building. I grabbed my purse, and my briefcase before heading out the door. I took the elevator down alone to level P4 and exited with keys in hand. Luke and I were not the only ones to own luxury cars in our building; I walked past at least three other Jaguars as well as many BMWs. I climbed into my car and started the engine. I did not like to drive the car much because of traffic and such, but I was going to pick up Luke at the airport, and negotiating luggage while in a taxi is not fun.

I drove into the Manhattan morning; traffic was bad, as usual. After sitting behind buses and honking cabs, I pulled into the parking garage underneath my office building. After parking, I took the elevator to ground level; the elevator didn't go into the building, just to street level. I walked around the side of the building arriving at the glass doors leading in.

Selena was sitting at her usual position rummaging through her purse. She was wearing a black shift dress; it was strapless with a sweetheart neckline but over the entire dress was an overlay of black lace, the lace covered her shoulders and created three-quarter length sleeves. She also wore patent black flats and a strand of pearls.

"Good morning, Selena," I said approaching her desk.

"Morning," she replied cheerily.

"I must say, that is probably the cutest dress I have ever seen," I said admiring her outfit.

"Oh, thank you. I made it myself," she said beaming down at her work.

"That is the most incredible thing I have ever heard."

"I am trying to start a company, but money is tight."

"Well, when you do have a company, I will know where to get all my clothes for the rest of my life."

"Aw, thanks."

"See you later, Selena," I said walking to the elevator and pushing the "up" button.

I got to my office and greeted my secretary, Petra. Petra was the best secretary/assistant ever. There was never a day when I got here before her, even when I came in at extremely early hours in the morning; and not only is she punctual, but I have never seen her in a bad mood. When I got to her desk, I asked her to order me some breakfast from a neighboring bakery, which she did with a smile.

After Petra had my breakfast delivered, I ate in my office while looking over the schedule for the day. I had two appointments today; one was in the morning and the other late in the afternoon. A free schedule gave me the chance to pick up Luke late in the day. I finished my breakfast and brought my dishes to the small executive kitchen on the top floor. I sifted through the new wave of papers on my desk and did other mindless tasks until my first appointment at eight.

At five to eight, a man with a dark beard streaked with grey walked into the lobby area. We wore a dark pin-stripe suit with a tie the color of a storm cloud. His dark hair fell around his shoulder framing a stoic face with eyes to match his tie. He looked very imposing with his tall stature, especially towering over the petite Petra. He spoke to Petra while I pushed aside my extra files and papers. I walked up to the door over by Petra's desk. I knew who this man was; his name was Zeus. Just as I walked out of my office, Thalia walked up behind the man in the dark suit.

"Father?" she said with an edge to her voice.

"Ah, Thalia. Nice to see you," he replied barely smiling. I could feel the tension radiating from where they were standing. I could have sworn that I could smell ozone. Things were tense between them; he had left when Thalia was young.

"The feeling is mutual," she said trying to sound enthused.

"Ms. Chase, just the woman I wanted to see," he said spotting me standing in the doorframe. I moved from the door and let him through into my office. He went and sat on the couch, Thalia followed him reluctantly into the office. She stood in the door looking defensive. I went and sat down in an armchair across from the couch, Thalia sat on the edge of my desk.

"How can I help you today, Mr. Zeus?" I said taking a sip of coffee from my mug.

"As I am sure you are aware, my headquarters were destroyed during the titan revolt. I have heard many positive things about your company. I was hoping you could design and rebuild my office." Zeus was the CEO of an air transport company in charge of shipping, travel, and satellite communications. Some people called him 'the king of the sky'.

"Of course," I replied a little giddy; it had always been by dream to take on this large of a project.

"Thank you. Sorry, but I cannot stay, there are pressing matters I must attend to. But I will send my advisor to speak with you tomorrow. I wish we could speak longer, but I wanted to speak to you in person," Zeus said standing up and walked out of the office.

For the next hour, I started to think of ideas for Zeus' new head quarters. I started doing research on the company and jotting down things that needed to be included. I looked at the clock on the wall behind my desk, which read nine. I grabbed my purse and the keas from my desk and phoned Thalia where I was going. I exited my office informing Petra as well. I found my car in the parking garage and drove through Manhattan and Queens. I parked in the parking garage outside the JFK airport and found myself outside the security gate.

I waited for about ten minutes with the other families waiting for our friends and family to land. Soon I saw a guy with sandy blond hair and striking blue eyes. I waved trying to catch his attention; he finally looked up and smiled.

"Oh Annabeth, I'm so glad to see you," he said coming and pulling me into a hug.

"Luke! I have missed you so much. I haven't seen you since we got engaged three weeks ago," I replied wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Well, I'm here now," he said pulling back and kissing me, "let's go home."

We got his luggage and brought it back out to the car. As we drove back into the city, he told me all about his time in Japan and Turkey. He explained how he was convinced that we needed to honeymoon in Turkey. He parked under our building and we rode up the elevator making out. We got up to our floor and I was trying to fish the keys from my purse. Once I opened the door, Luke pulled me back into his arms. He closed the door to our apartment and dragged me to our bedroom.

I shifted under the covers and looked over at the chock, it was noon. The sheets were cold against my bare skin. Luke wrapped his arms around my shoulder.

"Luke, I have to get back to work," I mumbled.

"But, I just got home" he replied pulling me in closer.

"I have appointments I need to be there for," I said going to the bathroom and fixing my hair. "Why don't you get us reservations for dinner tonight."

"Okay. See you later, love," he said giving me a kiss before I left the apartment.

I got back to work and did the stuff I needed to take car of. I met with a few clients and spoke with Thalia and Grover about our new project. After finishing out the workday, I grabbed my purse and briefcase. I took the elevator down to the ground floor and hailed a taxi. Luke had sent me the address of the restaurant he where he made a reservation. I told the driver the address and we sped through the city.

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><p><strong>AN: Hope you liked it. Go and check out my other story: Insider Information. And stay tuned for the next exciting episode of The Office Olympians!**


	4. The One With The Sleepless Night

**A/N: Damn, I am really not good a keeping promises, seeing it has been a couple of centuries since I have updated. I hope you understand, being an overachiever is really hard work. But thank you for bearing with me. And good news, I am now on winter holiday, which means lots of free time to write.**

**For starters, I would like to thank Makenzie'TheDutchess'McHamish, Mellocello75, thegayperson, and The King of Atlantis for favoriting this here story. I would also like to thank tiffic10, Gennie-Belle, The King of Atlantis, PerCyLovEr108, thebolplayer19, iampercyjackson'swife, and TESDandino for adding The Olympian Office to their story alert. And lastly, i would like to thank everyone who is reading and reviewing, there would be no story without you.**

**Hope you enjoy chapter 4 and have a happy holidays!**

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><p><span>Sleepless in Manhattan<span>

**Percy POV**

The cab driver pulled in front of my mom's apartment and paid the fare before getting out and shouldering my satchel. I carried the groceries for my mother into the lobby and up the stairs. I arrived at the apartment door and knocked. My mother answered the door with her usual smile. She took the bag from my arms and ushered me inside, dusting off my coat and doing the other things mothers have a tendency to do.

"Hi, Percy," my mom said walking to the kitchen to put the groceries away.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Paul," I said as I walked into the living room and throwing my book bag onto the floor and sitting on the couch.

"HI, Percy," Paul replied looking up from the stack of papers he was grading.

"How's school going?" I asked sitting on the couch, in the kitchen my mom was beginning to prepare a meal.

"It's going well this semester," he replied setting down his red pen and stretching.

"How is this semester going for you?" he asked eyeing my backpack.

"You know, it's school. They haven't kicked me out yet, and it has been, what, three years."

"It must be a record," my mother called from the kitchen jokingly.

"Thanks Mom," I replied getting off the couch and joining her in the kitchen. "Smells good," I said taking a whiff of the bread my mom had made earlier.

"Well, we heard you had big news, which deserves a good meal for my favorite son," my mom replied continuing to chop onions and dice tomatoes.

I helped her make the rest of the dinner. She let me boil the water for the pasta as well as cut the bread and put it in a basket. Even though I have been cooking for myself for quite some time, my mom still does not trust me working an oven. After dinner was prepared, I set the table and poured my parents and myself a glass of wine. My mom brought out the food and Paul joined us at the table.

"What did you want to tell us, Percy?" Paul asked serving himself a plateful of pasta.

"I got a job!" I said putting down my glass.

"Congratulations, sweetie, we knew you would find a job," my mom said beaming across the table at me.

"It's not a career or anything, I took the job so I could pay for school. So with my salary and the scholarship, you guys will not have to pay tuition anymore," I told my parents proudly.

"We are so proud of you, Percy," Paul said reaching over and shaking my shoulder.

I continued to tell them all about my job as we ate my mother's pasta. I explained what I was doing in the office and how much I was making. I also told them all about the company and the building overlooking fifth avenue. I filled them in about all my coworkers, although I withheld information about Annabeth for fear of turning bright red.

"Oh, and Mom, do you remember Rachel? I went to high school with her," I asked my mom who was scanning her brain trying to remember the name.

"Was she the girl you dated for a while?" she replied with a sly smile.

"Yeah," I said feeling my ears turn hot. "Well she is now a coworker of mine."

"She was a nice, girl," my mom said definitely over her glass of wine. I could tell from the look in her eye that she approved of Rachel.

"Wasn't she with you when you got my car all dented up?" Paul asked suspiciously.

"Oh, that. I remember now," I mumbled to myself now understanding what Rachel was talking about when we were in the cab last night.

"What was that, Percy?" my mom asked. "You know it's not polite to mumble."

"Nothing," I replied and quickly taking a rather large bite of pasta to avoid further questions.

We finished dinner and I offered to do the dishes for my mother. After I was finished, I joined my parents in the living room. Paul recounted many stories from his new class. My mom talked about the novel she was writing. And I told them all about school. We talked for a long time and before I knew it, it was eleven.

"Mom, I would love to stay and chat, but I have class tomorrow," I said shrugging on my coat and shouldering my book bag.

"Okay, Percy, but don't be a stranger," she said ruffling my hair and kissing my cheek.

"Congrats, Percy," Paul said shaking my hand.

"Bye," I said giving my mom a kiss and shaking Paul's hand.

I exited their apartment building and hailed a taxi. As he drove towards my apartment, I checked my phone. Nico had texted me about out lab grade, we had gotten an A. There was also one from Rachel, she knew exactly where we should meet tomorrow night. The cab driver pulled in front of my building and I paid the fare. I took the elevator to my apartment and threw my stuff on the floor once inside. After changing, I picked up the civil engineering textbook I was supposed to read for class tomorrow. I sat at my desk flipping to the first page of the assignment. About half way through the page, I could not keep my eyes open and told myself I would let my eyes rest for a minute.

Then there was a pounding at the door. I lifted my head and rubbed my eyes and wiped the drool off the corner of my mouth. I lazily shuffled towards the door, thrusting it open. Nico stood outside with an overenthusiastic look on his face. He was clutching a piece of paper like it was his life.

"Nico! It's the middle of the night! You better be sober," I said waving him in and shutting the door behind him.

"It's ten in the morning Percy," Nico said bluntly walking to the curtains and yanking them open. The morning sunlight streamed in and lit the room. Bessie swam in excited circles, glad to see the sun again.

"Oh, damn, I needed to finished the reading for Professor Bunsen's class," I said closing the thick textbook.

"Well forget about that! I have big news," Nico said flailing the paper in front of my face.

"What's that?" I asked grabbing the paper from his hand and smoothing it out between my hands.

The creases from Nico crumpling the paper made the navy blue letters hard to read, not the mention the dyslexia making it all the more difficult. I glanced over the paper reading it closely. The flyer was for the Trident Shipping and Merchant Marine Co. Under the title a brief description of the company and at the bottom of the flyer gave hours and contact information, which Nico had circled in a neon-yellow highlighter.

"What is this for, Nico?" I asked looking up from the flyer.

"They were at school recruiting students for internships and jobs. Dude, this would be you dream job; you love the water. And imagine you could be doing your engineering stuff while traveling the world on a boat."

"Thanks, Nico, but I have a job."

"Yeah, you will go far as a glorified pack mule. I'm serious go and check it out."

"Thanks for having my back man. If I hear of an opening in you dream job, you will be the first one I call."

"What time is your class?" Nico asked glancing down at his watch.

"Eleven. Why?" I asked skeptically.

"Well its 10:15 right now, your class is all the way down town, and you are still in your pajamas."

"Thanks for the heads up on the job," I said before going into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

After throwing an old MIT water polo team shirt on along with some jeans and a leather jacket, I grabbed my backpack and textbook that was still sitting on the desk. I ran down the stairs with Nico trailing close behind. I got to the ground floor and ran out the door. I stopped at the street and looked at my watch, which read 10:23. I jogged to the nearest subway station and took the train to the village, Nico on my heels the entire time.

I made it to my class right on time and took a seat in the third row next to a boy with thick-rimmed glasses. The professor was writing something on the board. Then he turned to face us and started his lecture.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV<strong>

I stood in front of Margaux's Vin Mousseux on the corner of Lexington Ave and East 83rd street. It was a new restaurant and wine bar, the paper had given it really good reviews and Luke had wanted to check it out since he left. He made reservations and told me to meet me there at seven thirty. I looked down at my watch, which read 7:30 on the dot, and walked into the restaurant. The main floor was dimly lit and the only light came from the tea light candles floating in tall glass flutes on the tables. The walls and ceiling were painted a dark maroon color and the floor was dark wood. The tables and chairs were painted black and the tablecloths were a dark purple. The entire wall to the right was covered with a lattice of glass in front of frosted glass panels with lights behind the glass illuminating it.

As I walked in, I scanned the room for my fiancé, who was sitting near the back against the wall. I told the host I was here to meet Luke and continued back to our table.

"Hello, love. You look lovely," Luke said standing giving me a kiss. "I am so glad to be back. Especially because I get to be home with you."

"I am so glad you are home too," I said sitting across the table.

"I brought back something for you," he said reaching into the pocket of his dinner jacket. He pulled out a silver box with a matching silver ribbon wrapped around it. I took it from his hand reluctantly and pulled off the lid from the box. Inside, a gold link chain with a silver coin encircled in gold. The coin had the impression of a goddess standing holding a spear and her helmet under her arm stamped on the face of he coin.

"Oh, thank you, it's so beautiful and thoughtful," I said taking it out of the box and putting it around my wrist and trying to secure it.

"It reminded me of you. It is supposed to be Athena, she is the goddess of wisdom and you are the smartest person I know," Luke said helping me with the clasp. So, have you told you mom yet?"

"Shh," I said looking around the restaurant making sure no one heard. "And, no, I have not told her yet."

"You have to tell her sooner or later. What are you worried about?"

"That she will not approve."

"You don't think that Ms. Athena will approve of me."

"Don't say that so loud. She's my 'godmother,' remember. No one can know that the head of the Pentagon has a daughter."

"I remember. But promise me you will tell her soon," he said taking my hand in his.

"I promise, I will call her tomorrow," I replied quietly.

The waitress came over to our table to take our order. Luke ordered a bottle of wine for us. Then I ordered a salad with calamari and feta while Luke ordered a steamed lobster. The waiter quickly retrieved out dinner and placed it before us.

We ate while quietly talking over dinner. After we had finished our entrées, I ordered a Swiss chocolate moose and decaf coffee. I ate my dessert while Luke finished off the rest of the wine. We sat talking for a while after we were finished with our dinner. I looked down at my watch, which read ten o'clock. Luke got up and paid the bill before going out front to hail a cab. I joined him on the sidewalk and we took a cab back to our apartment.

We got upstairs and I unlocked the door, once inside I flipped on the lights. I saw my shoes and coat from the day before still laying on the floor. I picked up the coat and my heels from the floor and brought them into the closet and put them in their respective places. Then I put my briefcase in the office and grabbed my laptop off the desk. I took my laptop into the living room and powered it up.

While I was waiting for my computer to start up, I walked into the bedroom. I heard Luke taking a shower in the other room. I changed into my pajamas and placed my dirty clothes in the hamper. When I was finished, Luke had finished and had gotten in bed.

"Are you coming to bed, love?" Luke asked checking his alarm clock.

"Not yet. I'm not tired," I replied before walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I left the bathroom and told Luke 'goodnight' and I walked back to the living room. My computer had booted up and I checked my email. I went through the motions of work without thought. I tried to force myself to concentrate on work but my mind was a million miles away.

I was so glad that Luke was home, I had missed him so much for the past few weeks while he was away. I have been getting so excited about getting married and I could not wait to start a family with Luke. But despite all of this, there was a quiet whisper in the back of my mind that kept telling me that it was going to end in disaster. I did all I could to quiet the voice and to focus on the positive.

I looked down at the clock in the corner of my computer screen, which read 3:02 AM. I told myself it was time to go to sleep. I shut down my computer and left it on the coffee table, before flipping the light switch off and entering my bedroom.

The sheets were cold as I tried to get comfortable. Luke had left the curtains open looking out over the skyline. I lay staring out the window waiting for sleep to come. I had become sleepless in Manhattan. After lying in bed for what felt like hours, I finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up the next morning with the sun streaming in through the window and the sound of someone talking on the phone in the other room. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked at the clock. It was noon; I had not slept that late since I was an undergrad. I climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. After brushing my teeth and throwing my hair up I went to my closet to change.

I put on a pair of grey skinny jeans with a light blue oxford and a burgundy blazer with three-quarter length sleeves. I pulled on a pair of camel colored riding boots and put on my usual jewelry. After I had gotten dressed, I walked into the living room/kitchen/dining room to find my wonderful fiancée making me lunch.

"Good morning. I made you a grilled cheese with tomatoes and that pesto sauce that was in the freezer," Luke said placing a plate with my lunch on the island.

"Well, aren't you sweet?" I said joining him in the kitchen area.

"Annabeth, I have to go into work for a while today. I am so sorry, I know I just got home but I need to go and take care of things," he said washing the dirty dishes in the sink.

"It's alright, I was planning on just running errands today anyways," I replied between eating my sandwich.

"Okay, so I have to leave now," he said coming around the table and kissing me on the cheek. He grabbed his jacket and briefcase before leaving the apartment.

After I finished my lunch, I put the plate in the dishwasher and finished cleaning the kitchen. Before heading out, I grabbed a jacked and my purse from my closet. I left my apartment and took the elevator to the lobby. Once outside I hailed a cab.

"Does your taxi run to Long Island?" I asked the cabbie getting into the yellow cab.

"Yeah, Miss, it will be a hefty tab though," the driver said through his thick Staten Island accent.

"That is fine," I relied taking my phone out of my purse.

"All right, then," the driver replied stepping on the gas weaving through traffic on route to Long Island.

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><p><strong>AS: There was chapter 4, hope you liked it. New chapter should be up before the end of the year so look forward to that and have a happy holiday.**


	5. The One With All The Parents

**A/N: Okay, I lied. I could not get a new chapter up before the new year. And on that note, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone has had a good first week of the year. Here is chapter 5 and it is long, 17 pages and 4704 words in my work doc. I hope the length might make up for my tardiness.**

**I would like to thank sapphire110 and super vegeta prince of sayians for favoriting this story. I would also like to thank BalletandBooks, sapphire110, super vegeta prince of sayians, and nickey1109 for adding The Olympian Office to their story alerts. And lastly, I would like to thank everyone who had read and reviewed****.**

**Enjoy Chapter 5! Oh and a bit of a warning: this chapter is a little PG-13.**

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><p><span>Parental Units<span>

**Percy POV**

The lecture seemed to last forever, Prof. Bunsen always has a way of droning on for what feels like hours. I spent most of the class drawing in the margin of my notebook, I guess I will have to get the lecture notes from the kid with the glasses. Prof. Bunsen finally stopped talking and I quickly tossed my books into my book bag and left the lecture hall.

I walked outside and pulled out the flyer Nico had given me. the sea blue letters said that that there was an open house, so to speak, from one to four. I pulled out my phone to check the time, it was currently 12:30. I decided that I had time to go home and change before going to check out the company.

I hailed a cab and told the driver my address, then we sped away into mid-day traffic. I checked my messages, one from Rachel telling me where to meet her and one from Nico asking for my old Ancient History notes, stupid undergrad requirements. We pulled in front of the apartment building and I paid the fare before getting out and taking the elevator up to my apartment.

I searched through my closet trying to find my best suit, it was a navy wool suit and was the only suit that was perfectly tailored. I found it crammed in the back of my closet still in the bag from the last time I had it dry cleaned. I quickly threw my suit on with a white button up and a silk tie the color of the sea. After I had gotten dressed and brushed my teeth again, I tore up my desk looking for another copy of my resume. I found one shoved in a drawer shoved under an old textbook.

I grabbed my satchel and ran downstairs to catch a cab. I gave the driver the address for the office in mid-town Manhattan. We arrived at the office, which was located across the street from the Empire State Building. I paid the fare and stood in front of the office building. It was a tan brick building surrounded by scaffolding that went up about half way up the building. The windows in the upper levels were still shattered and the building was scarred by burn marks. Construction workers, working on the scaffolding, repaired the signs of the Titan Revolt that had occurred this last summer. All the buildings surrounding the Empire State Building looked disheveled from the revolt.

I walked inside the building into the lobby. The room was painted sea blue and the floor was a mosaic rendition of how Atlantis would look, you know, if it was real. Behind the receptionist's desk was a large globe made of glass with a metal frame marking the latitude and longitude across the globe. The globe was resting in a large circular pool of water. From the top of the globe water spilled over the globe and into the pool.

There was a receptionist sitting behind the desk talking the phone. She had golden blond hair that was tinted green like she had been in chlorinated water with out washing her hair, her eyes were a similar color of golden-green. A headband of laurel leaves rested in her hair, which fell straight over her shoulders. Her nametag read Daphne.

"Hi, may I help you," she said looking up from the computer sitting on the desk next to the phone.

"I got this from school," I said handing her the flyer Nico had given me, "I was here for information."

"Oh, of course. You will want to go up the elevator to the second floor then turn left. There will be a recruitment office where the person who visited your school. That is who you will talk to," Daphne said illustrating the directions with over exaggerated hand gestures.

"Thanks," I said walking towards the elevator and pushing the button.

Before the elevator door opened an important looking man walked through the door accompanied by a woman carrying a briefcase and talking on the phone. A he walked into the room, Daphne stood from behind her desk to greet the man. He was wearing a casual blue cotton suit and a tie the same color as mine.

"Good afternoon, sir. You have no appointments this afternoon," Daphne informed the man as he walked up to her desk.

"Has anyone come from NYU today? I was hoping to get a huge outcome," he asked his receptionist.

"There is one, sir, the boy standing by the elevator. But it is 1:00 right on the dot and the flyer said it starts at one. I'm sure more people will turn up, sir, in this economy a job is a job," Daphne replied.

"Thank you, Daphne. Tell the first few students that come in that I will see them personally," the man in the suit said before walking over to the elevator to join me. "What is you name, son?" he asked standing next to me.

"I'm Percy Jackson, sir," I told the man who took my hand and shook it.

"Well, Mr. Jackson, I am Poseidon, the owner and CEO of Trident Shipping and Merchant Marine Co." Poseidon informed me as we entered the elevator and he pressed the button for the top floor. "Hm, Jackson, that name sounds familiar. Any relation to Sally Jackson?"

"Sally Jackson is my mother," I said as I watched the calm expression of Poseidon change into something that resembled surprise mixed with disbelief.

"Hmm, they we have quite a few things to talk about," we stepped out of the elevator and onto the top floor of the building.

It had only been about a month since the riots scared the building and the signs of the destruction were still relevant. Although the glass had been cleaned off the floor, the windows were still smashed out and covered with plastic to keep the elements out. Some of the walls were blemished with holes and burn marks. The carpet was torn and dotted with what I hoped was not blood.

"Please excuse the mess, we are still trying to recover from this summer's riots," Poseidon said opening his office door and ushering me in. He sat behind his desk and welcomed me to sit in one of the leather chairs across from him.

"Do you want my resume? I have one but it's a bit crumpled," I said pulling it out from under my engineering textbook.

"No, Percy. I think there is something else we have to talk about. Uh, how do I saw this?" he mumbled while wearing a concerned expression. "Percy, I think I am your father."

"That's impossible, my father was lost at sea before I was born," I recited what my mother had told me for the past twenty years.

"Not exactly, I am right here," he said sitting back in his worn deep sea fishing chair.

"But, but, but…" was about all my mind could seem to process.

"Why don't you come back when you have had some time to think this over? Here is my business card," he said as he pulled a sea green square from his desk. I took it from him reading the dark blue font.

"Thanks," I managed to say after dropping the business card into my backpack. "I, uh, guess we will be in touch."

"I hope so," he said stretching out his hand and shaking mine.

I left his office and took a cab home in a daze. I guess I was in such shock that my mind could not process what had happened. I sat in my apartment trying to figure out what had just happened. I must have sat there for a least an hour before deciding to call my mother. When she picked up he phone I all but broke down; after I got control of my emotions she told me everything.

"I'm sorry I never told you, sweetie. But I thought I was protecting you," my mom said over the phone.

"It's fine, Mom. Listen, I have to get ready for a date. I will call you later," I replied sheepishly over the phone.

"Okay. Bye Percy, have fun on your date," she said encouragingly.

"Bye, Mom," I said before hanging up the phone.

I looked at the clock; it was only 4 and quite some time until my date with Rachel. Instead of getting ready, like I told my mom I had to do, I grabbed my textbook and started to catch up on my stupid civil engineering homework. I sat on the couch and opened up the worn out book. I started to read the black block print on the white page. After three hours of reading, I finally was caught up and even finished the homework for next week's class.

After throwing my textbook on the floor, I went into the bathroom to get ready for my date. I took a quick shower and tried to fix my hair as best at possible. After brushing my teeth I changed into my clothes. I put on a button up shirt and a pair of kakis along with my beat up blue converse. Once I was dressed, I looked at my watch; it was now 7:30. I had to leave now in order to make my date with Rachel.

I raced downstairs and caught a taxi and told the driver Rachel's address. Before long the NYC cab pulled in front of her building. I dropped her a line and she met me at the cab. She looked stunning in an emerald green sheath dress accessorized with a black patent belt and a silver Tiffany's heart pendant. She also wore dove grey heels and a black trench coat over the dress. She carried a large black leather tote.

"You look sharp, Percy," Rachel said getting in the cab, "ready to go?"

"Right back at you, Rachel. Okay, where are we going?" I said stunned by how amazing she looked in that dress.

"Cosmos Bar," she informed both the driver and myself, "at 1150 5th."

We talked the entire way sitting in evening traffic. When we pulled in front of a restaurant with a green awning stretching over the sidewalk. The awning led up to a glass door. I paid the fare and we got out of the taxi and entered the restaurant.

Up a flight a few flights of stairs we got to the top floor. The restaurant looked like a green house overlooking Central Park and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Ceiling to floor windows made up all four walls; the ceiling were covered with twinkle lights wrapped around the beams in the ceiling. There were circular tables covered with white tablecloths. The restaurant was fairly empty with only a few other couples seated around the restaurant. The hostess escorted us to a table with a spectacular view of Central Park. Rachel ordered an Appletini and I, a Martini.

"So, I guess we will have to start where we left off," Rachel said as the waitress brought us our drinks.

"It sure has been a while," I said taking a sip of my martini.

"You had a girlfriend in college, through. Right?" Rachel asked eyeing me curiously over her cocktail.

"Um, is this a trick question?" I asked a little paranoid, my roommate from MIT had warned me about tricks like this.

"No, I swear it not a trick question. Now tell me," she pressed.

"Okay. Well her name was Calypso and I met her at the hospital where I was an inpatient after a really bad lab explosion."

"A hospital, how romantic."

"What about you; did you date in college?" I asked as I finished my drink.

"Yea, casually. Nothing too serious though," Rachel replied as the waitress returned to our table to take our orders.

We ordered our dinner; Rachel ordered seafood ravioli with lobster sauce while I got lasagna. Rachel also ordered us a bottle of wine. After the waitress has left to deliver our order to the kitchen. We got our meal shortly and Rachel interrogated me about Calypso. We had finished our meal and I paid. I joined Rachel in the cab that she had gotten for us. We took a cab to the Village where Rachel lived in an apartment. She picked up the fare and led me into her building.

The building's façade was made of red and white bricks and had a set of double doors nestled under a green awning. The lobby was small with the doorman's desk tucked into an alcove in the wall. There was a small, mirrored table directly across from the desk. Opposite the door was the elevator, which Rachel and I took up to her apartment on the top floor.

Rachel unlocked the door to her apartment and let me in. I went and sat on the couch while she brought us a bottle of wine she needed to finish. She poured me a glass and we continued to talk about our high school memories.

"I remember what you were talking about a few days ago, about the day we were at the beach," I informed Rachel sitting across from me on the couch.

"I really wish you would have come with me on vacation," she said smiling over her wine glass.

"We could have had a lot of 'fun' on the trip," the words came out of my mouth, but the wine was talking. I set my glass on the table and moved closer to Rachel.

"We can still have some 'fun'," she stated bluntly obviously becoming as buzzed as I was.

"Then why are we wasting our time talking," I said overcoming the space between the two of us and picked up where we had left off back in high school.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV <strong>

As the cab raced towards Long Island through Queens, I pulled out my phone and carefully dialed the number. My hands were shaking as I hit the call button and brought the phone up to my ear. The other end rang twice before a very formal man's voice answered the phone with a sedate 'hello'.

"HI, I am calling for Ms. Athena, it is her, uh, goddaughter," I told the man, who I assumed was her sectary.

"She is out of her office, in fact, she is in New York right now. Is it urgent? If so, I can patch you through," he said breaking the starchy military formalities.

"Could you?" I asked the man, "thank you so much."

"What is your name, dear," he asked over the clicking of the phone's keypad.

"Annabeth, sir."

"Please hold for a moment, Annabeth," he said before the elevator music resonated from the other end of the line. After a few moments the muffled music the secretary was again spoke, "Okay, Ms. Annabeth, I got you through. Good luck."

"Thank you," I told the man on the other end of the phone before the line went dead.

"Go for Athena," an indifferent voice on the other end spoke.

"Mom?" I asked sheepishly, "it's Annabeth."

"Annabeth, right. How are you?" she asked with a tone of detachment.

"I'm, uh, fine. Well, actually, I need to tell you something," I said trying not to let my nerves get the best of me.

"Yes?" she said coolly.

"I'm getting married," I managed to stammer out quickly.

"Congratulations. To whom, may I ask?"

"Luke Castellan."

"Well, I give my best to the happy couple. When are the nuptials?"

"We have not decided yet," I informed her feeling relieved to have gotten that out of the way.

"I hope to get an invitation when you do set a date. But right now, I have to attend a meeting," my mother replied sounding slightly annoyed.

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye, dear. Oh, and Annabeth, I am proud of you," she informed me over the phone. After she said that the phone went dead.

I watched out the window as Queens and Long Island rushed by. Before long the cab driver pulled up to the base of a large hill with a pine tree perched on the crest. Beyond the hill was a light blue, three-story farmhouse. Nestled in the valley were strawberry fields, a collection of cabins, and various fields for camp activities.

I got out of the cab and paid the tab, which was quite expensive. After paying, I started up the hill and towards the big house. I let myself into the old building; the wood floors creaked as I walked into the living room where two men were playing cards. One was in a wheelchair sporting a beard and a fuzzy wool sweater. The other was wearing a purple tracksuit with matching sneakers.

"It cannot be. Annabeth, but all grown up," the man in the wheelchair said putting his cards on the table and meeting me in the middle of the room.

"Chiron! Its so great to see you," I said giving him a hug.

Chiron was the headmaster at the boarding school I attended after my father remarried and I was shipped off. He basically had raised me through high school and was the only father figure that I really had. After he retired from teaching, he came to work at a summer camp in Long Island. Camp Half-Blood, as it was called, was a place for kids to learn about the classical world. Depending on the camper's interest, they would be put in cabins with other kids who liked to participate in the same activities. I spent a few summers working as a camp counselor. I was always head of the Athena cabin, where we liked to read and learn ancient Greek.

"To what do we owe this pleasure?" he asked asking me to sit on the couch.

"Well, I have some exciting news," I said taking a seat on the couch next to Mr. D.

"Yes?" Chiron asked eagerly.

"I'm getting married," I announced excitedly flashing my diamond engagement ring.

"Congratulations, Annabeth. Who is the lucky lad?"

"Luke. You remember him don't you?"

"Oh course I do. He was head of the Hermes cabin, excellent at fencing."

I filled Chiron in on what I had been doing for the past few years: grad school, starting my business, and living in the city. I told him about Thalia and her success as my vice president. I informed him on my fiancée and his work of traveling all over the world. We spent a few good hours talking.

But our conversation was cut short by my phone blaring a preprogrammed ringtone. I scrambled through my purse trying to find it desperately. After a moment of searching, I pulled it from the bottom of my bag. The screen told me Thalia was calling and so I answered the phone.

"Annabeth? Are you busy?" Thalia asked sounding a little flustered.

"Um, a little. Is everything okay? If it's an emergency, I can leave now," I told her which caused Chiron some concern.

"No, it's not an emergency. I just need to talk to you about something," Thalia said a little disenchanted.

"Okay, why don't you order a pizza and we can have a girl's night at your apartment."

"Thanks Annabeth. See you at my place at sixish?"

"Yeah, sounds good. But I have to go now. Talk to you later," I said trying to hang up.

"Bye," Thalia managed to say over the phone before I ended the call. I threw my phone back into my purse and looked at my watch, it read four.

"Is Thalia alright?" Chiron asked sounding very concerned.

"I think so. It must have not been too urgent if she could wait to tell me," I guessed. "But, I think it's time for me to be heading off. It was great to see you, Chiron."

"Don't be a stranger," he said before I gave him a hug. "Oh, and Annabeth, Argus will give you a ride. We have to pick some kids up from the city and I don't want you wasting your hard earned money."

"Thanks, Chiron. Bye, Mr. D," I said before leaving the room where the two men had resumed their card game.

I walked out of the Big House and out over to the hill. At the bottom of the hill, a large white van was idling. There was a man sitting in the driver's seat, I recognized him from my time at camp. His name was Argus; he looked a lot like a seasoned surfer with beach blond hair and tan skin. He never spoke; rumors around camp said that he had a tattoo of an eye on his tongue for some weird cult thing, but no one ever saw it so it remains a mystery. I walked down the hill to meet the van. I got in and Argus, with out a word, set out for the Big Apple.

By the time we got into the city it was rush hour and the traffic was gradually increasing. I gave Argus my address and he delivered me to my apartment building in due time. Before I got out, I made sure to thank Argus. I stood on the sidewalk watching the Camp van pull into traffic.

I had a half an hour before I needed to be at Thalia's apartment and I had to run up to my apartment. I took the elevator up and ran into my apartment. I quickly changed out of the clothes that smelled like the back of a NY taxi. I quickly changed into my favorite pair of jeans and a t-shirt and threw on a pair of converse. I grabbed my purse and ran down stairs.

Standing on the sidewalk trying to hail a cab in rush hour traffic, I decided to take the subway; it was only a short trip to Thalia's apartment, she rented a loft in the Upper West Side. I walked to the nearest station and caught the next train west. I arrived at the station closest to her apartment and walked the short distance to her building.

I walked into the lobby and buzzed her apartment, and herd her voice over the intercom telling me to come on up. I took the elevator up to her floor and located her apartment on the fourteenth floor. Her door was not hard to find, it was painted black with a silver apartment number and door handle. I knocked on her door and Thalia opened the door and ushered me in.

Thalia had an apartment the size of a shoebox. To the left of the door the living room standing in disarray, like always. The furniture, there was a couch and an ottoman, was all covered in storm grey canvas. Shoved between the couch and the ottoman was a low table coffee table covered with mirrors. There were old coffee cups and a series of newspapers from the past few weeks strewn across the couch, table, and floor. In the middle of the living room under the furniture was a fluffy white rug. In the far left corner was the kitchen. The white cabinets and stainless steel appliances wrapped around the far walls. Separating the kitchen from the rest of the room, an island stood directly across from the oven. Opposite the kitchen the bed was pushed against the wall. The grey sheets were wadded up at the end of the bed and the comforter was on the floor at the foot of the bed. Next to the bed a small bedside table, painted black, was crowded with coffee cups and copies of Time Magazine. On the wall above the bed, there were pictures tacked onto the wall of her, Luke, and I as kids during our adventures. All the walls were painted a light grey complementing the dark wood floors.

On the counter there were two boxes of pizza filling the room with the aroma of pizza sauce and garlic. Thalia had went and sat on the couch where I shortly joined her.

"So, what did we need to talk about, Thalia?" I asked sitting on the couch next to my best friend.

"Well, you know those girls who go around the country and monitor the animals and stuff?" Thalia muttered turning to look at me.

"Artemis and the Hunt? Yeah, I've heard of them. What about it?" I replied.

"I got a job offer. Ms. Artemis wants me to come and be the chief advisor for the company. I would spend most of the time traveling across the country and checking on the branches. You know I love working for you, but the benefits are great."

"Wow, that's fantastic, Thalia," I replied trying not to let my sadness color my voice.

"Will you be okay without me?" she asked looking concerned.

"I will be fine, I just need to find a new VP."

"Well, we can talk about that later. The pizza is getting cold," Thalia said getting up and walking over to the kitchen and grabbing the pizza boxes from the island. "It's Giovanni's. Remember when we went there as kids when we could go into the city?"

"How could I forget?"

I opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box. I looked over at Thalia, she was five years older than I was and this was a huge break for her. Artemis and the Hunt was a well-established company, which could offer stability. Olympian Architecture was still a young company and the future was less clear. Thalia really deserves this job and, even though it means that one of my best friends would be moving, she should take the job.

"Oh and there is one more thing. I will have to, you know, swear off men," Thalia said trying not to laugh.

"Gods, this sounds like some weird sorority," I replied through the giggles.

"No, don't use the 's' word. It's a company dedicated to female empowerment," she said trying to keep a straight face.

"Wait, didn't you HATE then in college?"

"Oh, I did, didn't I? Yeah, I remember that now. There was a club of future 'huntresses'. It was run by that girl Zoë."

"She turned out to be alright."

"I guess she did. What happened to her?"

"I heard that she, um, got killed in a fight or something when she was in San Francisco."

"Oh, wow. Poor Zoë."

"I know."

Thalia and I continued to talk about her new job. The told me all about the benefits and all the places she will be traveling. There seemed to be a branch on every dot on the map.

After a few hours of talking and after the two boxes of pizza where empty I looked down at my watch. We had managed to talk for five hours seeing as it was eleven. I helped Thalia clean up a little before gathering up my things and preparing to head home.

"So, I take it this was your two weeks notice?" I asked standing by the door.

"I guess it is. But I will make sure things are in order before I leave," Thalia reassured me.

"Okay, well, good night. I will see you on Monday," I said giving Thalia a hug.

"See you Monday," she said opening her apartment door.

I took a can back to my apartment and staggered upstairs exhausted from my day. I opened my apartment door to find Luke sitting on the couch watching the 11 o'clock news on BBC America. I threw my purse on the kitchen counter and went and sat next to Luke on the couch.

"How was your day?" he asked wrapping his arm around my shoulder and turning down the volume on the newscaster informing the masses of a hostage situation at one of embassies in Serbia.

"It was fine. I told my mom about our engagement," I replied kicking off my boots and leaving them on the floor next to the couch.

"And?" Luke asked curiously.

"She took it well. But hey, I am exhausted and I am going to go to bed now. Night," I said before walking into the bedroom, changing, and curling up under the sheets and turning off the lights. I drifted off into sleep.

**So, yeah, chapter 5. I have plans for the next few chapters and stuff so get excited!**


	6. The One With The Wedding Planner

**A/N: Why did no one tell me it was March? I know, I know, it's been, what, two months. And I am terribly sorry. I was in a musical and i had ti turn in a 20 page paper, so my life had been really CRAZY! But now, school is almost over for me (there are many perks to being a senior) so I will have tons more time.**

**I would like to thank Kiransomers, rayquazy, and Anarchy in Dark Places for favoriting this story. I would like to thank sabbybear1234, myfabulosity, Retribebution-TheDarkAngel, Alexandra Nightshade, Seaweedbrain13, Agent Astro Zombie, and ilovebooks1234 for adding this story to Story Alert. And last but not least, thank you to everyone reading and commenting.**

**Hope you enjoy chapter 6!**

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><p><span>Like Pink Champagne<span>

**Percy POV**

I woke up with that panicky feeling of waking up in a strange place. I looked around and saw a room bathed in light. The sheets were a light green and a grassy green quilted comforter was on the floor along with the decorative pillows. On the wall, on either side of the bed, white French windows stemmed from the floor and reached almost to the ceiling. Between the windows, pushed against the wall, a cream upholstered headboard stood with jewels where the buttons should be. The entire room was painted robin's egg blue with white trim complementing the white wood floors. On the far side of the room, a wooden dresser was against the wall. Along the walls various paintings and sketches were hanging. And to provide light in the room, large, white paper lanterns hung from the ceiling. To the right of the dresser, a door leads into the living room/kitchen; on the wall to the left of the bed a door leads into the bathroom.

Despite the headache and the bright light, recollection of last night started to return to me. I looked over, hoping to find Rachel besides me, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked around and found my clothes strewed on the floor and got out of bed and reluctantly redressed. I found Rachel in the kitchen, spreading cream cheese on a bagel. Her fiery hair was a bid disheveled and she was wearing a navy cotton robe over her shoulders.

"Good morning," Rachel said taking a bite from her bagel.

"Morning," I walked over and stood next to her in the kitchen.

"Coffee's over there and there is some chamomile tea in the pot on the stove. After half a bottle of wine, I think you will need it."

I grabbed a bright green mug that Rachel had placed on the counter. I poured myself a cup of coffee ignoring the pounding in my head and poured a few spoonfuls of sugar and cream into the cup.

I looked around Rachel's apartment. The kitchen was set in a little alcove next to the front door. Behind the cabinets the walls were made of exposed brick and mounted in the wall are black cabinets and sparkly black granite countertops. Beyond the kitchen a collection of couches and chairs were gathered around a flat screen. On either side of the television were ceiling to floor windows looking over the corner. On the opposite side of the room cream canvas chairs surrounded a glass top dining table. Beyond the table a door stood open revealing a studio brimming with blank canvases and easels.

I stood in Rachel's kitchen and sipped my coffee. In the silence my thoughts wandered to my meeting yesterday. For years I had though my father was lost at sea, then, out of the blue, I have a father. I had tried to suppress this though all last night but there was no ignoring it now. Everything would be so different now, especially because I might get a job with him.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked shaking me out of a daze.

"Yeah, just thinking. I have a lot on mind," I replied shrugging listlessly.

"That doesn't sound like the Percy I know," she said smiling. The morning sun was caught in her hair and her eyes sparkled.

"What time is it?" I asked looking around for a clock.

"Twenty till eleven," Rachel replied after glancing at the clock on the oven.

"I should probably go," I muttered barely audible.

"Are you sure you're okay, Percy?" Rachel said setting her breakfast on the counter and approaching me concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I swear."

"Okay, if you say so. But take something for the road," she said walking to a cabinet and pulling out a tin box of brightly colored squares and thrusting them towards me, "it will help the headache and nausea."

"Thanks," I replied taking the emerald pouch from her hand. I struggled through reading the black print on the package, but I managed to figure it was an herbal mint tea.

I gathered up my remaining things and tried me best to make it look like I was not doing the walk of shame. After freshening up, I left Rachel with a kiss and went downstairs to get a cab.

I caught a cab back to my apartment and stumbled to my apartment. I threw my phone on the counter and went to take a shower and change my clothes. When I was all clean again, I grabbed my phone to call Nico.

He picked up the phone on the second ring and muttered something sleepily.

"Hey Nico. I have big news," I told him over the phone.

"Can't it wait 'til morning Percy? I'm kind of in the middle of something, sleeping," he replied lazily.

"I met my dad yesterday," I said bluntly.

"What?" he asked now fully awake, "like the one who was lost at sea?"

"Turns out he own the company where you sent me yesterday," I informed him.

"Damn, what a coincidence. Does that mean you got the job?"

"I don't know what it means, except I have a father now."

"Wow, heavy," Nico managed between the muffled conversation he was having with someone he was with.

"No kidding."

"Sorry, man, but my sister is in town and I need to go. Why don't we go and get a drink later, and you can meet my sister."

"Cool, just text me later. Talk to you later," I said before hanging up the phone.

I threw my phone onto the bed and collapsed on the couch staring up at the white ceiling. My head was still throbbing a little, but the hangover wasn't too bad. I didn't move from the couch watching the clouds pass through the window. I tried not to think about my father, I had managed to keep my mind off it last night. But now I was alone and had time to think. Above my head on the table between the couch and the wall, Bessie was swimming circles in her bowl.

Suddenly an idea struck me upside my head. Back in high school, whenever I had a lot on my mind or was stressed, I would go and swim laps. Being in the water always helped me calm down and clear my head. I had joined a gym two black from my apartment a month ago but never had time to go. I grabbed my phone from the bed and grabbed my old water polo team bag from the closet. I threw everything I needed into the bag and headed out.

I walked out of my apartment building and into the warm September air. It was a nice day, warm and clear. The gym was close, so I walked there. I swiped my card and went to the locker room. I changed and walked to the pool. It was five stories up and pushed against a wall over looking the street. Through a set of doors, there were machines and weights.

There was practically no one here and I got the pool to myself. I took the middle lane and eased into the cool water. I felt refreshed and everything seemed clearer. It has been so long since I had been in the water, and I missed it. I swam for about an hour, which probably was about a hundred laps. I got out of the pool and grabbed my towel from my gym bag. I sat at the edge of the pool with my feet dangling in the water looking out over the avenue. There were few people out walking in the midday rush. IT was a relatively calm day in the Big Apple.

After, like, five minutes of sitting at the edge of the pool, I gathered my stuff and rinsed off. I threw everything in my bag and headed back home. When I got back to my apartment, I took a real shower and checked my phone. Nico had told me to meet him and his sister at Two Fool's Tavern, a popular bar with the NYC students, at ten. I changed into a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt I hope is clean.

Since I had some spare time, I picked up a textbook and started reading. It took me five hours, but I was finally caught up on my homework. It felt good to get everything done, and this means that I do not have to do homework, like, the rest of the week. I threw everything in my book bag and made an attempt to clean my apartment.

Once I had tried to clean, I picked up my phone and called Rachel. I thanked her for the herbal tea; it had helped with the headache. I also explained the reason I was acting so odd this morning, my father. She promised to take me to lunch tomorrow so we could talk about this more. We talked for a while before she had to go. We hung up and I threw my phone on the couch.

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><p><strong>Annabeth's POV<strong>

I woke up to see the lovely face of my fiancé. I curled against his warm skin trying to escape the cold lingering in the sheets. He murmured something unintelligible into my hair and wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face into his shirt and breathed in his intoxicating sent.

"Good morning, love," he told me before bringing his lips to mine.

"Good morning," I replied still reeling from the kiss.

"I cannot believe that soon I will be waking up next to my wife," Luke smiled down at me and brushed my bangs away from my face.

"Speaking of being married, we have an appointment with a wedding planer at noon today."

"Do I have to go?"

"Yes, now I'm going to get ready, we will have to leave in an hour," I said casting a glance at the alarm clock on my nightstand. I tried to wiggle my way from Luke's embrace. In protest he only held me tighter and refused to let go.

"Please let me go, love," I said trying to pry his arms away from my waist. Reluctantly, he loosened his grip and I slid out of bed.

After taking a shower and dressing, I walked into the kitchen to see my lovely fiancé making breakfast. The kitchen smelled like cinnamon and fresh coffee. As I walked up to the island, Luke pulled a tray of cinnamon rolls from the oven. He iced them and handed me a plate. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down to eat my breakfast.

When Luke and I had eaten breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, we went down stairs and caught a cab. I gave the driver the address of our wedding planner's office. The entire way Luke was complaining about having to look at boring invitations and boring seating arrangements. It felt like we were sitting in traffic four hours, especially with Luke's constant complaining. Finally we arrived at our destination and paid the fare.

The outside of the building was made of tan bricks. A revolving door led into a small lobby, where we took an elevator up the fifth floor. The door opened to a large oval sitting room. On the far side of the room, there was a white desk with a bubbly secretary chatting on the telephone. The armchairs and couches were all a forest green and cream toile. There were various bouquets of flowers placed of end tables and coffee tables. Along with the flowers, every wedding magazine imaginable sat on the coffee tables. The walls, which were painted a lovely shade of gold, were decorated with romantic scenes of Paris, London, and Rome. The floor was covered with a fluffy white carpet.

Luke sat on a couch and did his best to look miserable, while I went to talk to the receptionist. The girl sitting behind the desk handed me a few wedding magazines to flip through while we waited to see our wedding consultant. I joined Luke on the couch and opened a magazine.

Before long a woman came out to meet us. She was tall and slender, bearing great resemblance to Selena. She had black hair, which fell in prefect curls over her shoulders. She had kind bright blue eyes that sparkled under her perfectly applied make-up. Her clothes were perfectly tailored. She was wearing a blue silk dress with a bronze metal belt, along with a grey cardigan. Around her neck hung a sting of pearls that matched her earrings. Her shoes were dove grey patent pumps. Compared to her, my simple white sundress looked dumpy.

"Welcome to Aphrodite's Weddings," the lady said in a melodic voice, "I'm Aphrodite, and I will be your wedding coordinator."

"Hi, I'm Annabeth and this is my fiancé, Luke," I said standing up to shake her hand.

"Oh, I know who you are. Your mother has told me all about you," she said flashing me a smile, "I was so excited when I heard you were coming to us to plan your wedding, I decided I would do it myself."

Aphrodite and my mother, Athena, were part of a coalition of the most powerful people in the country, maybe the world. The coalition consists of twelve powerful and wealthy business owners, politicians, and statesmen. Along with being rich and affluent, they are notorious philanderers. Most of my friends and coworkers are the children of various members of the confederation. Selena's mother is Aphrodite, Thalia's father is Zeus, and Luke's father is Hermes; all of whom are members of the alliance.

Luke and I followed Aphrodite into her office looking over the street. An elaborately carved desk, painted white, stood in the center of the office. Behind the desk, Aphrodite took a seat in a baroque style swivel chair; we sat in similar stationary chairs. The chairs were painted white and the cushions were a similar shade of pristine white. Each of the walls was covered in light pink metallic damask wallpaper. There were large studio windows with white trimmings overlooking a row of luxury shops. There were a few stables standing around the room, they were each covered with wedding magazines, binders full of wedding stuff, and bouquets of flowers. The floor is the same white carpet as in the waiting room.

"So, have you thought about anything about your wedding?" Aphrodite asked sitting behind her desk.

"No," I replied sheepishly. We had only been engaged for about a month and I have been so busy with work, and Luke was gone. We hadn't even se a date yet.

"That is fine," she said encouragingly, "we will take this step by step. First we will work out a date for the wedding and set a budget. Then we must do invitations, find a venue, catering, etc. There is much to be done, but with me behind the wheel this will go smoothly."

I felt confident putting my wedding in her capable hands. She ran a wedding planning company, as well as owning several designer clothing labels, and successful boutiques in the city. Despite the fact that she is a little air-headed and vain, she channeled her affinity for anything having to do with love and fashion into a multi-million empire.

"So, to start, what time of year do you want to get married?" Aphrodite asked us in order to get things started.

"We were thinking of having a spring wedding," I said looking to Luke for conformation. He nodded lazily, still looking miserable.

"That's a good start," Aphrodite said grabbing a large three-ring binder from the shelf.

We spend hours talking about the pros and cons of having different wedding dates in the spring. After we narrowed, down dates we moved on to discussing other things about the wedding. It took hours. After a few hours of wedding planning, we made another appointment to come back in a few weeks.

As we were walking out of Aphrodite's office, she called out to us. "Remember dears, life should be happy and free, like Pink Champagne." She appeared in the doorframe waving at us and smiling. We left the building and took a cab back to our apartment. I opened the door and threw my purse on the couch.

"I never knew there was so much stuff that goes into planning a wedding," my fiancé confessed flipping on the lights in our apartment.

"Gods, I know. My head is still spinning. But we have three possible dates, so we at least have a foundation," I replied as I walked into the bedroom to change.

I changed into my pajamas and walked back into the living room. Luke was heating something on the oven. He had gotten in the habit of making dinner since I've been working late lately. He made dinner while I watched the nightly news. We ate the pasta with tomato garlic sauce that Luke made.

After dinner and after we did the dishes, we sat down to look over the wedding planning book again. I flipped through the binder looking at the different types of themes and color schemes. There were so many choices that we had to make for the wedding, it was a bit over whelming. But we battered down the hatches and started to study the glossy pages of the binder.

A/N: Hope you liked chapter 6. Stay tuned for chapter 7!


	7. The One With Nico's Sister

**A/N: I must be the world's biggest tease: I say that the next chapter will be up sooner, I say that there will be Percybeth coming soon, and I say lots of other things. But it seems like I am never able to follow through on these things, and for this I am truly sorry. Now, I solemnly swear that the next chapter will be up sooner as well as be all Percybeth. I swear it!**

**Now for some thanks. I would like to thank Peseus the Assassin of the Old and GreekGoddess00 for favoriting this story. As well as renagal42, Peseus the Assassin of the Old, and jajaaah for adding this story to their Story Alerts. And lastly, I would like to thank all the readers and those who have reviewed. Thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.**

**And without further ado: here is chapter seven! Hope you enjoy.**

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><p><span>The One With Nico's Sister<span>

**Percy POV**

My phone buzzed at me from the couch. I picked it up and the screen told me that Nico had texted me. He was asking to borrow my lab notebook to copy my notes. I replied and looked at the clock, it was now eight thirty. I heated up the oven and took out some frozen chicken nuggets and fries. While they heated in the oven, I searched my apartment trying to find the lab notebook. I found it just as the oven started beeping at me from the kitchen. I took the tray out of the oven and ate my dinner. When I had finished my dinner and did the dishes, I ran downstairs to catch a cab.

By the time I got down to the Village, it was 9:45. It was not hard to find it bar, it is a narrow building with the façade painted bright blue with gold trim. There are always flags from five or six countries flying over the door. The inside looked like a regular pub with wooden tables and exposed brick walls. There were not many people here tonight, just a couple of old friends discussing the rugby game from this weekend and the college drunks who frequented the bar. I sat at one of the tables in the back of the room watching the door for Nico.

Nico and his sister walked into the bar. I would say that Nico and his sister looked a lot alike, but it would feel weird saying that Nico was hot. They had the same straight, glossy, dark brown hair and dark eyes. Her olive skin almost glowed silver with health. She wore an understated outfit, composed of simple dark-wash skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, and a silver windbreaker. Nico followed her in looking like good old Nico, with his hair hanging in his eyes and wearing a worn Aviator jacket.

I waved them over to my table, just as the waitress came to collect my drink order. They sat down and we ordered out drinks. I had a scotch on the rocks, Nico, a Guinness, and his sister, a Long Island Iced Tea.

"Now, for the formal introductions," Nico said after the waitress had taken our order, "Percy, this is my sister Bianca. Bianca, this is my friend Percy."

"Nice to meet you," Bianca said reaching over the table to shake my hand.

"You too," I replied taking her hand and shaking it.

"Bianca is in town for work for a few days, she's staying with me at the dorms," Nico interjected as we sat back down.

"Really? Where do you work?" I queried

"I work for Artemis and the Hunt. Were in town to pick up a new general. I though it would be nice to visit my baby brother."

"Don't call me that, Bianca," Nico said grudgingly.

"I remember when he played a silly little card game and collected the dolls too. What was it called, Nico? Mythomagic?" Bianca taunted her little brother.

"They're not dolls, they are action figures," Nico said dejectedly.

The waitress came back and brought us our drinks after carding us. Bianca continued to tell me all about their childhood. Their mother had been killed in a freak lightning accident in a Washington DC hotel when Nico was still in diapers; they had not seen their father since. Thereafter, they were sent to boarding schools paid for by a mysterious bank account. They went to school together all through high school until Bianca left for college where she joined the Hunters.

Just as Bianca finished relating her and Nico's childhood story, a man pushed his way in to the bar. He threw an icy glance towards the table where we were sitting; his eyes were unsettling: one was brown while the other one was blue. Behind him shuffled a woman with a tight grey bun and a wispy moustache. They sat at the front of the bar and started a muffled conversation, giving us the evil eye every few minutes.

"Nico, do you know the people sitting by the door?" Bianca inquired of her younger brother.

"Yeah. Why?" he quickly replied taking the final drink from his beer.

"They have been giving us death glares every few seconds," she said turning her shoulder so her back was facing the two.

"Isn't that the new Military History teacher?" I asked trying to place their faces.

"Yeah, his office is right next to my advisor's office," Nico replied, "I think his name is Dr. Thorn. Real maniacal."

We all laughed at the last comment, which drew ire from the cross professor. He glared at us with his beady little eyes from the opposite side of the room. We looked away and tried out hardest to keep from laughing. I heard chair legs scrape across the worn down wood floor. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the man with the calico eyes walking towards our table with an awkward, militaristic stride. He approached and grabbed something sticking out of Nico's backpack.

"Hm, what do we have here, Mr. Di Angelo?" Dr Thorn asked examining the old notebook I had lent Nico with the notes I had taken a few years ago.

"That's just my old notebook. Is there a problem?" I asked the teacher.

"Well, well, well, if it is your friend's notebook, then what is it doing in your backpack, Mr. Di Angelo? Do I suspect plagiarism?" he asked tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

"No. I didn't even take the class here. And they are just notes, not a term paper. I do not see the big deal," I replied bluntly grabbing for the notebook. Dr. Thorn was too quick for me and pulled it from my reach.

"Di Angelo, come with me, it is time to bring this up with the dean; bring your friends too," the professor said grabbing Nico's backpack and marching towards the door. Nico had no other choice but to follow the man who had kidnapped his backpack. Bianca and I, after paying, quickly stood and followed in pursuit.

The three of us chased Dr. Thorn for three blocks before Nico caught up with him; Bianca and I were not far behind. Nico tried to grab his bag back but Dr. Thorn simply refused to release it. The two stood in the middle of the sidewalk playing tug of war. They continued to fight for about five minutes; all the while, Bianca and I tired to interfere.

That was when a thirty-something year-old woman walked up and put an end to the fight. She was gorgeous with long auburn hair and eyes that shone silver. She wore the same silver windbreaker as Bianca and had an authoritative air to her: she held herself like a queen.

"Excuse me, Sir, but I do not think that you have the authority to take this young man's backpack," she said snatching the bag from Dr. Thorn's hands. She returned it to Nico and returned her focus to the thief. "Now, I think it is time for you to go," she said producing a taser from her purse and threatening the professor. In response, Dr. Thorn sneered at us before turning around and marching off.

"Thank you so much, Lady Artemis," Bianca said slightly bowing to the woman who had just adverted the situation.

"Well, I was becoming worried. You said you would be back at eleven thirty, and then you didn't show up. So I took a cab down to the village because that is where you said you would be. Then I saw you fighting with these boys and thought you were being mugged," Artemis expressed.

"Nico, Percy, this is my boss, Lady Artemis. Lady Artemis, this is my brother and his friend," Bianca introduced us to her boss.

"Nice to meet you," she said with reserve, almost like she was distained to be in the presence of men. "Now, Bianca, we really should be getting back to the hotel. Let's go, I have a cab right here."

"Yes, ma'am," Bianca said before turning to Nico and myself, "bye, baby brother. It was nice to meet you, Percy."

"Bye, Bianca. It was great to see you," Nico responded giving her a hug.

"It was nice to meet you too," I said once the siblings were finished with their goodbyes.

Nico and I waved at Bianca and her boss as they pulled into traffic in a cab. I hailed a cab and Nico shouldered his backpack. I told him I would see him at our next Microorganisms Lab, before getting in a cab. I told the driver my address and we sped into traffic. He pulled in front of my building and I paid the fare. I took the elevator to my floor and entered my apartment. I changed into pajamas and crashed on my bed into a dreamless sleep.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV<strong>

Luke and I spent hours wading through the glossy pages of Aphrodite's wedding binder. There were so many details that must not go overlooked. What kind of paper the invitations should be printed on, what colours the tablecloths should be, etc. Quite frankly, it was giving me quite a headache. The same could be said for my fiancé: he had given up on trying to be a part of the wedding planning process and, after taking a couple of aspirins, was asleep on the couch.

I closed the wedding binder from The Fields of Punishment and brought it to the home office. The office, or library, as I like to call it, is set off from the kitchen by a short hallway and through heavy mahogany doors with gold hardware. The far wall had a picture window framed with black wood; heavy, dark-grey drapes were drawn giving the same view as the dining room. Surrounding the window were mahogany bookshelves that were built into the wall. The bookshelf had glass shelves and where it met the ceiling the wood was scalloped behind which there were lights illuminating the shelf. Filling the shelves were books, photos, knickknacks, etc. Placed in front of the bookshelf was a large mahogany desk that had wings that extended from both sides; the desk was a mess with bills and paperwork that Luke and I had both brought home that ringed the desktop computer. Behind the desk was a large red leather desk chair, which matched the two red leather armchairs on the opposite side of the desk. On the right wall, there was a bookshelf identical to the one on the far wall accept for the gas fireplace. In front of this bookshelf, two reading chairs, upholstered with dark gold fabric. Between the chairs there was a small round coffee table with a glass top. In the corner next to the bookshelf stood one of those antique globes. On the opposite side of the room, a filing cabinet was disguised as a mahogany paneled bar with a mirrored surface. All around the room hung vintage art deco posters that I had found at a thrift store and had framed. The entire room was painted the same dark gold that matched the upholstery on the chairs in front of the fireplace. The floor was carpeted with a soft white carpet. In the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling was a large art deco style chandelier.

I walked over to the desk and, exhausted, threw the binder onto the desk. In the process, I managed to knock over Luke's briefcase spilling out papers onto the floors. I quickly bend down and started to gather the overturned documents. As I was stuffing the papers into the briefcase, a receipt from a bank caught my eye. I put it aside before finishing clean up the records.

I sat behind the desk and examined the ticket. The paper indicated the transfer of extremely large amounts of money from this account to another. The account was under the name A. N. Dromeda and an address I had never heard of. Although the address was unfamiliar, the name rang a bell. I turned on the computer and typed the name into Google. The first thing that popped up on the screen was a news article from this past summer. It was about the Titan Riots and their mysterious financer: A. N. Dromeda.

As I read on the article provided little information on the background or current whereabouts of the enigmatic investor. The only intelligence that the article divulged was the suspicious activity Mr. Dromeda was engaged in during the months leading up the riots. The suspicious activities included chartering a cruise ship to transport Kronos' supporters from their headquarters in San Francisco to New York City and bankrolled a communication and transport system code-named _The Labyrinth_. The article went on to speak of the private investors with whom Dromeda dealt. I reviewed the bank statement and the information seemed to match up.

I sat there feeling very confused. If this guy was conspiring with the Titans, then what was it doing in my fiancé briefcase? There was no logical answer that allowed Luke to be a good guy. It is illegal to be in possession of someone else's bank statement; financing an uprising is equally as illegal. I sighed down at the paper in my hands not knowing what to do next. So I did what I always did when I was in this situation: I called Thalia.

"Annabeth! Don't you know it's like midnight? And some of us have to work tomorrow," a very groggy Thalia said picking up the phone.

"Sorry, Thalia, but I kind of have a really big issue and I need your help," I replied sheepishly.

"Okay, give me a minute, then I will help you," she replied before setting her phone down and I heard her shuffling around on my end of the phone, "so what's your problem, Annabeth?"

"I accidentally knocked over Luke's briefcase and some papers fell out. I found a bank statement from A. N. Dromeda," I informed Thalia.

"A. N. Dromeda. Why does that sound so familiar?" Thalia mused.

"He was the guy who bankrolled the Titan Army."

"So, why was in Luke's briefcase?"

"If I knew then why am I asking you?" I snapped at Thalia, "sorry, Thals, I'm just tired and confused."

"It's okay, I understand. So let's look at all the possibilities here. Maybe Luke works with this guy and he stole it in order to turn him into the authorities," she suggested.

"Highly unlikely."

"Maybe he found it when he walked into the bank and kept it because… I don't know Annabeth."

"Do you think that Luke could possibly be A. N. Dromeda?" I asked Thalia bluntly.

"Do you want my honest opinion, Annabeth?" she replied gravely.

"Yes."

"I do think it is possible. Remember during spring break that one time, when we all went to visit his mother in Connecticut. That was when he met his father for the first time. After that all he started acting odd; all he wanted to do was to prove something. After that he started picking all kinds of fights at school, almost got kicked out a couple of times. I don't suppose you remember any of this; we kept a lot of this from you."

"Wow, you really kept a lot from me. I just remember him getting moodier. Even yelling at me once. But I always dismissed it. Do you really think that is something that would drive him to be involved with the Titans, who were bent on taking down his own father and his colleagues?"

"No, there is more. Remember when we were at camp and his father sent him to do a task. And when he failed at completing it, he got really bitter. I know he never told you, but after that he started to hate his father and the others. I think that is what would drive his to do something like fund the Titan Riots."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I stuttered into the phone on the brink of tears. Confusion was replaced with anger and disbelief.

"I never thought it would amount to anything. Also, he seemed to be happy now working with his father. Existing among them. I am not accusing your fiancé of anything; I'm just saying I would not be surprised if it were true."

"I'm sorry, Thalia, I know you're not at fault. What do you think I should do about this?"

"I would try taking to him. He is about to be your husband, after all. These are secrets that are to big to be kept," Thalia replied through yawns.

"Thank you so much. What would I do without you? I'll see you tomorrow, get some sleep now."

"Any time, kiddo. Goodnight, see you at work," she said before hanging up.

I carefully returned the bank receipt into Luke's briefcase. I relocated the binder to one of the shelves where it was free of the possibly of unlocking another dark secret. I walked back into the living room and over to the couch where my fiancé was sleeping on the couch. I sat down next to him and looked down at his face. He looked so peaceful when he slept, not capable of anything destructive. I pushed a few of his stray locks from his face. I tried to think of any odd reason he may have been affiliated with A. N. Dromeda so that he was not a bag guy of sorts, but Thalia's statement kept cutting into me like a knife. Could I be in love with a man who had caused so many suffering?

**A/N: So, there is chapter seven, hope you enjoyed it. Like I said before, the next chapter will have some Percybeth in it, as well as being updated sooner. So, stay tuned until then!**


	8. The One With All the Overtime

**A/N: Sorry I have been AWOL the past few months. I got a new computer and I needed to wait to get Word. Then when I finally got it, I didn't have internet for a while. So sorry. Well I am all settled into school and will have a much more normal schedule.**

**I would like to thank freefunny and Word Goddess for favouriting this story. And Adept 137, freefunny, SexyPurpleBeast, and Number1Bookwor for following this story. As well as freefunny, Qu33nL3fty, and HestiaPotter for adding me to your author alerts. And freefunny and Qu33nL3fty for adding me to your favourite authors. It means a great deal to me, thank you. And a huge thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. There would be no story without you.**

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><p><span>Overtime<span>

**Percy POV**

It had been four months since I had taken the job at Olympian Architecture. It had been a great four months, too. I had made lots of friends, and everyone was so nice. Rachel and I are about to celebrate our four-month anniversary, as well. Both Nico and myself passed our lab with flying colors, and I was one credit away from graduating in the spring. I had even talked to my father, who had mentioned something about a full time job with something along the line of a six-figure salary, once I finished school of course.

But that is the future and right now I was still working at Olympian Architecture for the most beautiful CEO in New York City. I had been working with her all day on a huge project, redesigning the headquarters for one of my dad's colleagues. She was so absorbed in her work that she did not realize that it was 9:30 at night. I had spent the last six hours running back and fourth from her office to the file room or to get samples, and I was exhausted. But, I had learned lots of things, like not only is Mrs. Chase gorgeous and successful, she is also extremely smart. I officially had a huge crush on her. It was so worth spending most of my day with her. But it was getting late, and there was no prospect of stopping in the near future.

"Okay, can you get me a sample of the Carrera marble, the Yule marble, and that Chilean granite?" she asked not looking up from the blueprint.

I had already done this a million other times today. I exited her office and crossed to the elevator and took it down to fourth floor. During daylight hours, this was a really cool place. There was a huge room dedicated to scale models the marketing team had made for the clients to be able to envision their buildings. There were also thousands of paint swatches and tile samples to make sure that no detail goes unnoticed. However, in the dark, everything looked a little more sinister, and right now the building had been shut down, accept for Annabeth's office. I'm not saying that I was scared, but I didn't necessarily waste anytime here. I grabbed the samples and rushed back to the elevators. I brought them back up to the office and lay them on the desk in front of Annabeth.

"Thanks, Percy. I think I am almost done," she said scrutinizing the chunks of rock and comparing them with the other thousand chunks of rock sitting on the table. I had also learned that Annabeth is a perfectionist and every detail need be exact.

"I would hope so, it's nine forty-five," I stated looking down at my watch. This caused disbelief and consternation from Annabeth. She shuffled through the papers piled on her desk trying to find the clock.

"At night?" she asked distressed, unable to find the clock. I nodded and showed her my watch. "Oh, Percy. I am so sorry to keep you so late. Go ahead and go home, I can finish up here."

"Nah, there is nothing at home for me, accept the conclusion for my thesis. And that has been waiting to be done for a month, now, and it can wait," I shrugged. And who needs a Masters degree when I can hang out with Annabeth.

"Oh gods, I remember writing my thesis. I didn't sleep for like two weeks," she laughed almost forgetting about her work for the first time since this morning. She quickly realized her digression and returned to the blueprint instantly.

"What about you? Don't you have like a fiancée or something? I think he would be worried about you being at work so late," I asked her, secretly curious about her fiancée.

"No, I don't think he will be worried. He is in India for work. So, I have the same thing waiting for me at home: nothing."

"All right. But I am serious about being almost done. If you can get me one more thing, we will be done," she explained, "and let my buy you dinner. It's the least I can do for keeping you so late."

"Oh, I see what you are doing. You are trying to make up for not paying overtime by enticing me with food," I said jokingly pointing my finger at her, "well, let me tell you, as a broke college student that is a very enticing offer. What do you need?"

"Okay, in the very far end of the filing room there is a wall with special boxes with the words _Minotaur Storage_ printed on the side. There should be a box labeled with the numbers 008. I need that box. And be very careful those boxes are extremely heavy."

I took the elevator down to the second floor. The elevator opened revealing the brightly lit room filled with the buzz of the fluorescent lights. Even during the day this room is creepy. I wandered through the maze of files looking for the Minotaur box. Just like Annabeth said, the box was sitting on a shelf on the far wall nestled with cobwebs. I struggled to pick up and carry the stupid box across the room and to the elevator.

I managed to get the Minotaur Box up to the twentieth floor and into Annabeth's office. I was about half way to her desk when she screamed and scrambled to get on her desk. In the commotion, I managed to drop the box on my right foot. Ignoring the throbbing in my foot, I joined Annabeth on the desk.

"What's wrong?" I asked once she stopped screaming. Only then did I register the pain in my foot. I tried sitting down to take the pressure off my foot, but did not help the throbbing. Annabeth was oblivious to my injury. She was watching the box intently like it would attack any second.

"There… there was a spider on the box," she stuttered, terrified.

"Is that what this is all about?" I asked in disbelief. I tired to stand but the pain shooting up my foot, I couldn't even walk. After a few failed attempts to walk, Annabeth took notice.

"Oh gods, Percy. What is wrong? Did you drop the box on your foot? Oh gods, let's get you to the hospital. It probably shattered your foot," she fired off questions as she rolled the desk chair around her desk over to where I was standing.

I would have tried to argue but I couldn't walk and the pain in my foot was getting worse. I let Annabeth wheel me down to the lobby in the cushy armchair. I waited inside with the security guard while she hailed a cab. The night guard rolled me out to the cab and helped me get into the cab while Annaebth searched for good hospitals on her phone. Once she had found one that lived up to her high standards she joined me in the cab and told the driver the address.

After an excruciatingly long cab ride, the taxi pulled into the emergency entrance at the hospital. Annabeth paid the fare and then came around the car and tired to help me get out of the cab. Watching the two of us try to get out of the cab and into the hospital was probably like watching a car wreck. I kept hitting my foot on anything that could be hit, but we finally made it inside and the ER nurses gave me a wheelchair while Annabeth got all my paperwork sorted. And then we waited.

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><p><strong>Annabeth POV<strong>

Dealing with someone who had a broken appendage was much more taxing than I would have thought. Trying to carry Percy inside proved to be much more difficult than imagined, especially in heels. Then there was trying to deal with all the stupid paperwork that was only made worse by Percy saying '_my foot hurts_' every five seconds. That went on for two hours while we waited in the ER. Percy tried to pass the time by racing a kid who had broken his leg in the wheelchair, but the nurses took the boy to get x-rayed. Then we waited some more. We must have played a million games of tic-tac-toe and attempted to play a game of Pictionary, but he chose to draw 'Taoism' and that was the end of that game. I was surprised at how much fun I was having with Percy; he was funny and goofy.

It was after midnight when the nurse came and took us back to the ICU for x-rays. Percy kept insisting that I go home, but I felt responsible for putting him here so I refused to leave. I sat in a worn chair pushed in the corner of the room and waited patiently for the nurse to bring Percy back. When she finally did wheel him back into the room, I could tell she was glad to get rid of him. He was making jokes about surviving a nuclear doomsday while wearing the lead vest. She helped him onto the bed and made a hasty exit.

We sat in the drab hospital room with Percy mumbling about how much his foot hurt. I was about to knock him out so we would both be out of our misery. I was about to act upon this plan when I was interrupted by the doctor walking in with the x-ray results. He was tall and athletic with sun-kissed blond hair and eyes the color of the sky. I knew him from somewhere, but fatigue had dulled my brain.

"Hello, Mr. Jackson, I am Dr. Solace but please call me Will," he said sticking the negatives on the lighted box and turning to face us, "so, what happened?"

"He dropped a box of rocks on his foot," I said almost sheepishly. I felt so bad for Percy, and so responsible. If I were not such a damn perfectionist, he would be at home without a broken foot. But then again, I was secretly glad he did drop that box on his foot. If he had not, I would have not gotten to know him. Somewhere, deep inside, I had developed a small crush on him.

"Are you his girlfriend?" Will asked while he prodded at Percy's foot, which had swollen in size. I'm glad they were both occupied with the broken appendage, because my ears started to burn and my face turned an embarrassing shade of scarlet.

"No. I'm his boss," I said carefully. Will looked up from the patient and scrutinized me. I could tell this was not a normal situation, not many bosses would hand around this late. Suddenly a light of recognition came into his eyes.

"Annabeth? Like from Camp Half-Blood? No way, if is little Annabeth," Will said coming around the hospital bed to give me a hug. "Did you know she wrecked my car when she was sixteen," Will divulged causing Percy to chortle.

"What is wrong with his foot?" I asked trying to change the subject away from that little accident that was no big deal.

"Well, four of the five metatarsals have been shattered. It looks like we are going to have a tiny operation, but I do not think we are going to need to put in any screws or pins. We can operate in the morning and you can go home in the evening. Then you would have to wear a boot for about six weeks. Pretty routine. And with the wonderful insurance your boss has will cover most of the expenses."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Percy admitted studying the negatives on the wall. He quietly took the painkillers that Will gave him and sat back mutely. After a few minutes of examining the x-ray, he started to ask Will about the surgery. Listening to the all the medical talk was putting to put me to sleep. I excused myself to get some coffee.

I followed the signs back to the lobby where I had seen a coffee cart when we were waiting. I poured myself a cup of steaming hot coffee and gingerly took a sip. I was unaware of the people standing next to me until one of them said 'Annabeth?' I turned to face the voice that had addressed me and saw two people standing there regarding me. One was a tall and thin woman with wavy ash blond hair that fell over her shoulder and grey eyes. The other was man with short platinum blond hair and golden brown eyes. I recognized this pair too.

"Hi, Annabeth. You probably don't remember us, but I'm Myra and this is Demitri. We were your boyfriend's friends," the woman said causing me to place them in my memory immediately. They went to college with Luke and I had met then at an alumni event about a year ago. Demitri and Luke had been roommates and my fiancé dated Myra for a while. And I think they may have been a Camp one summer.

"Wow, it must be reunion day. I just saw an old friend from a camp I went to, and then I bump into you two. What a coincidence," I laughed.

"You don't mean Will Solace? I know he went to Camp as a kid and he works here now," Demitri stated very matter of fact.

"Yeah, actually, it is Will. I think I finally understand how small a world it is. How do you know him?" I asked, curious. I had heard about the whole 'five degrees of separation' thing, but to actually see it is kind of mind-boggling.

"Will and I are roommates, and I work as well," Demitri explained pouring himself a cup of coffee. It was then I noticed the light blue scrubs and surgical mask hanging around his neck.

"I also live with them, but I don't work here. I am Will's girlfriend," Myra continued quietly. She gave me a tight smile, I understood instantly. I didn't want to discuss my romantic life with my fiancé's ex either.

Things were quickly becoming awkward. Demitri sipped his coffee while Myra and myself found a sudden interest in the floor. Before things could become anymore uneasy, Will joined us. He helped himself to a cup of coffee before giving me the final diagnosis of Percy's foot.

"He is adamant about you going home, Annabeth," Will added throwing his arm around Myra's shoulder. "Seriously, you should go home. It's a quarter till two, and unless you want to spend the night here it would be kind of pointless to stay."

"I guess you are right. But please tell Percy, I will come and check on him tomorrow after her surgery," I insisted. Will promised he would deliver the message.

I said goodbye to Myra, Demitri, and Will before exiting the hospital and hailing a cab. I gave him my address and sat back in the taxi watching the city slip by. I evaluated the events of the day in my mind. Percy was a really hard worker and had great potential in a friend. But, there was a small notion tugging at the back in my brain telling me he would make a fantastic boyfriend. I tried to push this out of my head as soon as it popped in; my efforts were futile. I thought of this the entire way to my apartment building. I was so wrapped up in my mind that the driver had to knock on the window separating me from the fount of the cab. I handed him the fare and took the elevator up to my floor. I threw everything on the living room floor before falling in bed, not bothering to change out of my clothes. The last thing that entered my mind before falling into a dreamless sleep were those beautiful sea green eyes.

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><p><strong>AN: So, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and the cameo of my OC from my other story Insider Information, which you should go and check out when ever you get the chance. Thanks so much for reading!**


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